FAR CRY 5: The House Of Cards
by C. Mage
Summary: Elaine wasn't sure what to do about her handsome, but boring boyfriend. A call from her sister in Hope County, Montana, draws her to her old hometown to find out that a lot has changed, and not for the better. Fortunately, her boyfriend follows her...and he turns out to be a lot more interesting than he let on...
1. Chapter 1

**FAR CRY 5: The House Of Cards, Part 1 - Double Down**

 **By C. Mage**

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ELAINE

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Rick's going to kill me. I just know it.

I don't know why I even agreed to come to Hope County. Jess said it was really important and really vital that I get there as soon as possible, and not to tell anyone. Knowing my sister, she's not entirely all there and she probably got into a big fight with Roger, AGAIN, and she's probably shacking up at Moonflower Trailer Park with Aunt Flora, AGAIN.

Honestly, Jess is a hot mess and there are no two ways about it.

I'm coming up on the city ...huh. This is new. There's a roadblock up ahead. There are some raggedy-looking people there. At least they're friendly, just waving me through. Hey, that's Earl, from the pumpkin farm. Darla, Greg, Missy, too, from the FANG Center. It's almost like they were expecting me or something; I can't imagine why else they'd be here on the south road. And they're all wearing shirts with those Eden's Gate crosses on them.

I may need to have a talk with Jess more than I first thought.

Okay, I'm starting to find this a little bit creepy.

I passed by the "Welcome to Hope County" sign, only someone defaced it by painting the word, "SINNER" on the front of it. There are also other buildings I've passed, also defaced with words like, "PRIDE" and "WRATH" and "THIS IS EDEN'S GATE TERRITORY". I drove on until I got into Fall's End and...whoa. People are walking around wearing these white clothes with that Eden's Gate cross on it and they're all carrying, and I don't mean groceries. And the worst part? They look so HAPPY. There are smiles on their faces while they're armed to the nostrils.

What the hell's happened to my town?

I park the car and head into the Spread Eagle, pretty much the only bar in town. It's almost seven at night, but when I walk in, the place is nearly deserted and Mary May is nowhere to be found. The lights are all on, though. Video arcade game's turned off. The only real noise in the place is a radio playing some gospel-sounding song called, "Now That This Old World Is Ending". I was waiting for Rod Serling to step out and do the teaser when the door opened and Jess came in, wearing normal clothes, but she looked...and smelled...like she hadn't taken a bath in a couple of weeks! "Jess?" I asked, not entirely certain that this person was my I-wouldn't-be-caught-DEAD-outside-of-my-home-without-makeup-on sister.

"Lainey!" She sat down next to me on a stool, looking for all the world like she'd just won the lottery. "I've missed you so much. How've you been?"

"How've I…? Jess, what's going on here? I feel like I took the wrong left turn at the signpost to the _Twilight Zone!"_

"Lainey, it's been such a WONDERFUL experience. Look at me. How do I look?"

"HOMELESS. Last time I saw you, I couldn't get you to come outside without makeup on using a tow truck. Now, you look…"

"John says, 'a woman's natural look shows her inner beauty.' I won't get painted up like some Jezebel no more, no SIR."

"John? Who's John?"

She laughed and pushed my shoulder playfully. "Silly….John SEED, of course. You simply cannot imagine how much better I feel after he took my sins away, made me as pure as the driven snow…" The look on her face was making me wonder if this was really my sister at all.

"Well...hopefully I'll get to meet him tomorrow. I've been driving for the best part of 24 hours and I really need to get some sleep. Will you be here tomorrow?"

Jess smiled that smile again that made me want to punch it. "Of course. The home's nice and clean, you can sleep there and John can come by in the morning. Oh, he so wants to meet you!"

"I'll bet. Wait….YOU cleaned the house?" Something was definitely off, now. Jess had always been a slob. NOW she's Miss Happy Homemaker?

"The Father says that a dirty home is the result of a sinful, slothful mind. Only SINNERS have dirty homes." Her voice was joyous and my flesh was starting to crawl. "That's why I asked you to come here. I wanted you to meet the Father, listen to what he has to say, what they all have to say. Your soul's in peril, Lainey...the Collapse is coming, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I want you to be saved, just like me, just like everyone here!" Her voice was getting more and more desperate and she reached out, taking my hands. There was a smell on her, not just the usual dirt and grime. A sweet smell.

I had a bad feeling we weren't as alone in the Spread Eagle as it looked, and since we were probably surrounded by people just like Jess, I had been trying to look as sympathetic and as welcoming as possible. But I knew they wouldn't buy me being so eager to drink the Kool-Aid they're serving around here. "Jess, I'm glad you called me. Something big is clearly going on around here, and I'd like to know more, but I'm beat. I drove 20 hours almost nonstop because of the way you sounded on the phone, like you were hurt or injured and sick." I squeezed her hands gently. "But now I realize that you're not in any danger, it's like all the adrenaline's gone and I really need to get some sleep, hon. I'm just dead on my feet."

Jess blinked, then looked contrite. "Of course, I've been so selfish, I never even gave a thought to how I must have sounded on the phone. I'll get you home, you'll get some sleep, and tomorrow, after a good breakfast, we'll go talk to John and ease your mind about what's going on." She smiled so happily at me. "I can't WAIT for you to meet him!"

 _Yeah,_ I thought, _that makes ONE of us…_

* * *

RICK

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I don't like this.

I just got home from "work". It's just a cover, working as security for a construction business. I don't have to worry about working for the next few decades, but it'd look suspicious for me to have money while I'm staying at home playing video games and working out in the garage. What I really do is touch base with my old contacts, go to the gym and work out for an hour or so, manage my finances and enjoy not doing what I was doing the last fourteen years. Take in the clean air, smell the roses.

Elaine's not home, car's not here, some of her clothes and toiletries are missing, and her suitcase is gone. The suitcase isn't big enough to hold more than a week's worth of clothes, so that nixes the first thought I had...which was a worst-case scenario, that she knew what I used to do for a living...and still do, for the right target. Last month's "business trip" was to a small country in the Himalayas called Kyrat. Seems some despot was taken down, only the woman that took over decided to have her brother killed, increase recruitment for the rebel forces, the "Golden Path" and imprison the son of Pagan Min, the rightful ruler of the country. The young man's family here in the States wanted someone to bring their son back, and I hadn't been to Kyrat before, so I took the job. Found out the son didn't know he was the rightful ruler and turned out to be a decent guy. When he found out the woman who took over, Amita, wanted to preserve the country's drug trade, I offered to take her out, but he said that he was going to take care of it, since he was largely responsible for her being in charge to begin with.

Satisfied that the guy was the right man for the job, I took my leave...after the tragic death of one Amita by snakebite. Yeah, the snakes in this area can be REALLY dangerous, and the guy had enough on his plate. The Golden Path will be looking to him now, since from what I heard, he was a hero to them, and Amita told them the guy had left the country.

He'll figure the rest out.

Unfortunately, his problems were solved….and mine was just beginning.

* * *

It didn't take much for me to get an idea of where she was going. A simple "*69" on the phone pulled up an area code in Montana, in a place called, "Fall's End". When I called the number, however, it just rang and rang and rang. No voicemail, no answering machine.

My next call was to a friend of mine from my old workplace, who gave me some interesting news about the area, Hope County. Several years back, a guy named Joseph Seed shows up, who got religion and started up a new version of Christianity, called the Project at Eden's Gate. The dogma isn't entirely clear, but more and more people join this new religion. Contact with people outside Hope County becomes a little more sporadic. The ATF and the FBI have files on this location, but the agents sent in from either one come back and say that everything's all right, it's just a little alarmism from the locals, and no evidence of any crimes being committed…

Hold on. I ask him to compare the statements of the agents sent in, all seven, from those agencies. He calls back an hour later, reporting that all seven agents reported the exact same thing, using almost identical wording. "What going on here, Rick?"

"I don't know, Kenneth, but I need you to look into those seven people."

"I can't order surveillance on these people without more evidence that what you've got! A couple of these people answer to people much higher than me. One of them just got promoted to being the aide to the Chief Of Staff!"

"Then I'll get you more evidence. But what I need you to do is call Betty and Clarence. I need to get dropped into that area and I need some equipment. Tell them I need my Go-Bag #8. They'll know what to bring. I'll be at their airfield in five hours."

"Rick….you better know what you're thinking of doing."

"Ken, not even GOD knows what I'm doing. And considering what I may be up against….that may be a good thing. Keep digging."

* * *

I stopped the car at the airfield and got out. Betty and Clarence were a mother/son team of pilots. They had a nice collection of World War One and World War Two planes, and often gave skydiving and piloting lessons, fully accredited by the state. However, the state might've had a few uncomfortable questions about one plane they had in their hangar...a Grob G 520T EGRETT II. At first glance, a casual observer would mistake it for a World War Two piece, except for the wings. To help prevent uncomfortable questions, the plane had been converted to use detachable wings, so if the FAA ever came looking, the wings could be removed and stashed away within an hour. The plane itself had been painted to look as if the paint job wasn't complete, not to mention dirty.

By the time I had arrived, they had the wings attached, were fully fueled and had the drop pods attached, one for me, one for my gear. "You ready to go?"

"Always, sugar. Clarence, honey, be a good boy and spoof that flight plan for us, would you? There's a dear." Clarence, a few minutes over the age of 16, nodded and ran to the office. "You're all packed and ready, so let's get you into your jumpsuit and fit you for the air tanks. It's going to be cold and thin where we're letting you out. Even so, you sure about this?"

"Something's wrong there, Betty, and there's a civilian involved."

"Well, that's all well and good, but HALO drops are never routine."

"Just be sure to drop the second pod where I indicated on the map and we'll be golden."

"Suit yerself. Let's get you ready."

* * *

Well, Betty was right about the drop. It was a night drop, so I had to keep an eye on my gauges. Just over three minutes of freefall, then opening my parachute practically right before terminal velocity turned me into street pizza. Never as fun as advertised, but it gets the job done.

Time for a little recon.

As I got out the radio, I was starting to understand how difficult it would be to send a signal outside the area. Apart from some radio signals from the outside and landlines, trying to make a call to someone outside this valley would be a stone bitch without a satphone. This place practically screams, "geographic isolation".

I checked my map. I was a few hundred yards south of Fall's End, and it was a few minutes past oh-one hundred hours. The gear drop would be deep in the woods to the southwest, to avoid being discovered by anything except the local wildlife. Hopefully, this will all be a misunderstanding and I won't need the heavy gear. I found a place to stash my flightsuit and my air tanks. Unless my upcoming needs included scuba diving, they'd keep under the hay in the nearby barn for now.

Not for the first time since I dropped from that plane, I wondered how Elaine was doing…

* * *

ELAINE

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I am SO screwed.

I made the mistake of listening to the radio to help me get some sleep, and what I got were some bizarre gospel songs, all talking about sinners, the "Collapse" and about the Seed family. I figured the best way to get an idea of what was going on was to take a look around. When I was a kid, I used to climb up on the roof and look around at the whole valley below and the stars above with my telescope.

Tonight, the stars were the last things on my mind.

I pulled out the old telescope as quietly as I could, then moved to the roof, set up the telescope and did some looking around to get more pieces for the puzzle.

A lot of the farms around here aren't raising regular crops anymore. There's still some, but most of the farms I'm seeing have a new crop...fields of white flowers. Saw a couple of trucks carrying big plastic barrels. Red silos filled with something that's leaking some kind of green gas. Men and women with white clothes….people I knew growing up, people who were my neighbors, people I went to school with...wearing white clothes and carrying guns like this was some kind of...some kind of war zone.

A holy war…

I have to get out of here. I don't know how these people, how my sister got this way….but the woman who called me here, who's sleeping in the room down the hall, that's not my sister. These aren't the people I once knew. And this John Seed is somehow responsible, him and the rest of the Seed Family.

I've got to get out of here before I end up as another one of these drooling yes-men.

I'm just glad Rick isn't here. I really like the guy...but there's no way he's cut out for something like this. He works as a rent-a-cop for a CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, for crying out loud. Yes, he's built, he goes to the gym, but it takes a lot more than that to handle crazies like this.

Now all I have to do is figure out what the Seed Family's plans are without getting shot….or worse, captured and turned into whatever my sister is. God, what am I going to do? Do I play it close to the vest, meet with John Seed and let him think I'm interested...or is it too risky? God, I don't know...and I don't have a lot of time to decide.

Where's a double espresso when you really NEED one?

* * *

RICK

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Managed to find out quite a lot in the last two hours...none of it good.

The Seed Family has a complete stranglehold on Hope County and practically everyone in it. Joseph Seed has found a chemical compound in a rare flower that grows in Hope County that he's using as a brainwashing agent, forcibly indoctrinating everyone he can in Hope County...and from the looks of things, they've managed to get people outside the county indoctrinated, too. As soon as the officers were taken down, the dispatcher, Nancy, should've called the National Guard. But she's reporting nothing out of the ordinary...which means she's in on it.

What's worse, these people are walking around with some serious firepower. Milspec weapons, plastic explosives, grenades, rocket launchers...they've even outfitted a few World War Two planes with machine guns and bombs. The county's been sectioned off, each being run by a different member of the Seed Family.

There's also a resistance movement, but from the sounds of things, they're on the ropes. They're holed up at the county jail, of all places. Going to see if I can establish a base camp there.

Also, I found out other information while I was getting the maps for the county. There are three ICBM missile silos that have almost certainly been occupied by the "peggies" as most of the people who haven't been indoctrinated refer to those that had.

Religious zealots of a doomsday cult brainwashed by a drug they call "the Bliss" in charge of nuclear weapons? Yeah. This isn't a shitstorm. This is a category five TORNADO.

First things first. Find Elaine.

I activate the tracker for the bug I put on her car….okay, first off, enough with the stalker comments, okay? I put the bug there as a precaution in case someone stole her car. No, I'm not the kind of jerk who needs to know where his girlfriend is at any given time. No, I'm not paranoid. I'm hyper-aware. There's a difference. Okay, enough judging me, I've got to get back to finding Elaine. According to the tracker...there. Looks like she's at his sister's house.

Think I'll go pay them a visit.

* * *

Okay…clearly, I'm in the TWILIGHT ZONE.

Elaine always considered her sister, Jess, a slob. She complained how, ever since their parents died and left Jess the house, the amount of upkeep on it was practically zero. Jess sent Elaine a selfie of herself in front of the house. The lawn wasn't mowed, the garden was overgrown with weeds, and there was actually a car up on blocks on the far side of the yard. I could only guess at the state of the house inside.

Now...I feel like I'm looking at the home of the Cleavers. Impeccably-manicured lawn. Flowerpots. A porch swing. A white freaking picket fence. No way. Somebody else lives here. Except Elaine's car is here. I moved around back and checked the back door. Unlocked. Something to be said for small towns, I thought at first, then took a closer look using nightvision goggles. The place was CLEAN. No, not just clean….I smelled bleach and other chemicals. This place was STERILE. I didn't get it. Most of the people with Eden's Gate were unshaven, dirty, unkempt. Were their houses this clean as well...or did the Seeds make Jess clean her house to the point of making it clean enough to qualify as a hospital's emergency room in order to help her prove her devotion?

I've seen enough. I leave the same way I came in, then hear an unladylike grunt right above me. I look up to see a very familiar ass right over my head, attached to two very familiar legs. I step back, wait for her to land, then put my hand over her mouth and grab her tight. "SHHHH! It's me, Rick!" Dammit, she was trying to bite my fingers!

She stopped, then turned to look at me. "RICK?" she hissed. "What are you DOING here?"

"It's lovely to see you too, sweetie, but maybe we should continue this conversation when we're no longer in the middle of JONESTOWN?"

"All right, follow me. I know this place like the back of my hand…"

"We need to get to the barn, first And then we need to get somewhere your sister DOESN'T expect you to be."

She looked at me as if I was suddenly covered in green scales. "Well, this is a side I haven't seen of you. Did you learn how to be sneaky while you were out with your friends playing paintball?"

"Yeah, 'paintball.' Less talky, more sneaky, huh?"

We got to the barn where I picked up the rest of my gear, zippering it up in a duffel bag. "Where did you get all that stuff? That Army Surplus store on Eighth? And why did you bring SCUBA gear, we're landlocked…"

"Let's discuss this when we're well away from this place."

"But my car, my purse…!"

"Leave them. They'll be no good to you right now. The less ID material they find on you, the better."

She gave me that look again. "Since when are you an expert on these things…" Her voice trailed off as I took out my P99 and added the silencer to it. "And where did THAT come from? Rick….I think you have some explaining to do."

I sighed. "That is going to have to wait until we get underground. Do you know of anyone who might have an underground bomb shelter or storm shelter?"

Elaine gave a quick, short laugh. "It'll be harder to find someone who DOESN'T."

"Closest one?"

Elaine looked around, then nodded. "I know. Dutch's place. He's got the best shelter in the place, and it's pretty remote."

"Get us there, and I'll tell you everything….and you do the same."

* * *

We arrived at the bunker. It was pretty well hidden; if Elaine hadn't remembered where to look for it, it would've taken an hour to find it. The hatch was open, oddly enough. "I'll clear the bunker, then you follow me down."

"Rick, I know Dutch. If he's here, wouldn't it be better if I was the first face he saw?"

Had to admit it, she was right. "All right...but once you get down, we're going together." She went down the ladder and I followed, reaching the bottom and looking around. Maybe I should get the name of Cutch's architect; this bunker was extremely well-made, generator, fresh water feed and filtration...and a control center of some kind. A bank of several monitors was set up, showing views from all over the island. A bald, older man in BDU pants, a shirt, and a hunting vest was asleep in his chair, an empty bottle of Jack Daniels lying on the floor.

"Come on….help me get him to bed. I'll….look around for a bedroom, looks like he's moved a few things around since I was last here." She went off to find the bedroom and I lifted Dutch up, carrying him over my shoulder. "Over here!" she called, which sounded way too loud down here.

"Keep it down! You don't know who might be nearby."

"Oh, relax. You could set off a grenade down here and nobody would feel so much as a bump right outside. Found the bed." I carried him over and laid him out. It was a simple twin bed with a mattress, no sheets, just a pillow. I made a quick check and found a Colt .45 revolver, removing the bullets. "What are you doing that for?" she asked.

"So if he wakes up and we don't notice, he won't shoot us by mistake." I put the gun back where it was. "Come on back to the desk...and we'll talk."

* * *

"So...talk. From the beginning."

I sighed and took a deep breath. I always hated briefings like this. "I went into the Army right out of high school, and things were going well, except they noticed how good I was at marksmanship. They checked me out further, and it was discovered that my psychological profile indicated a certain...moral flexibility."

"What do you mean, 'moral flexibility'? What are you some sort of psychopath?" Yep. There was the look I was worried about.

"No! Psychopaths kill without remorse or compunctions. I just wanted to serve my country. I was loaned out to an NSA program where I went through counter-terrorism training at Camp X, which if asked, I've never heard of, and I was hand-picked to head up a strike team, since I was so good at it...and after a while…" I took another deep breath. "...I began to LIKE it."

She looked at me with that growing-horror look. "Did you kill innocent people? TELL ME THE TRUTH or I am out the door right now!"

"No! I didn't murder innocent people! You should see the files of the people I'm sent after...they read like DEMONS' RESUMES."

"This is something you actually did?"

And here comes the final nail. "...it's something I DO. When I went freelance, I was in relationships before...and as soon as they found out what I did for a living, they left so fast, you'd think I'd been handed THEIR 'files' and then told them there were contracts out on them! So, I don't tell you what I do, because I don't want to lose you, too. And then you went to visit your sister, and I found out more about the Eden's Gate cult and the Seed family...and I had to come in after you."

"How did you even get here?"

"Jumped out of a plane at forty-five thousand feet. That's what the breathing apparatus was for. Had to wait until I was below 900 feet before opening my parachute." No answer, she was just looking at me. "Come on, say SOMETHING."

"Jesus Christ on a chariot-driven sidecar. I'm dating Jason Fucking Bourne." She shook her head. "Well, Rick, as it turns out, I need a Jason Bourne on this. My sister's been brainwashed. I think it's got something to do with those flowers growing all over the place. We can't rely on the police here."

"Well, we do have two things going for us. We've got an asset on the ground, a CIA agent named Huntley. He needs me to do a job for him, and in return, he provides us with intel on the Seed Family. Also, based on some chatter on the radio, there's a resistance group in the county, but they're on the losing end of the peggies."

"'Peggies'?"

"Project, Eden's, Gate. P, E, G, peg."

"Ah." She sighed. "I need to get some sleep."

"Here, use my sleeping bag." I removed it from my duffel bag.

"What are you going to sleep on?" she asked as I took out a slim pillow.

"I'll sleep in this chair. It's not too bad, and I did get some sleep earlier."

Elaine blinked. "Aren't you going to be uncomfortable sitting there?"

"I'm going to sit facing the entrance. I don't want to get too comfortable, so if someone does find this place, or Dutch wakes up, I want to be awake pretty quickly."

Elaine sighed. "Have it your way, 'Jason'." She went to sleep, and so did I.

* * *

I woke up at the sounds of noises coming from the bedroom. Coughing, groaning and...wait for it…..the retching. The trifecta completed, I called out, "You've got visitors, and we're not with Eden's Gate." Silence, then careful footsteps as Dutch entered the room. I held up a bottle of painkillers. "Here." I tossed it and he caught the bottle, looking at it first, then at me again. Then he saw Elaine sleeping in the sleeping bag.

"Lainey? Lainey Parson, is that you?"

Elaine woke up and smiled. "Sorry for not knocking, but you and 'Jack' didn't want to be disturbed."

"Yeah...mind if I have my chair back, youngster?"

I stood up, picking up my gun and holstering it. "All yours."

He looked over at Elaine. "Who's this guy?"

"My boyfriend, Rick. He's here to help."

Dutch looked me over. "Help us...or help you?"

"Help everyone."

"And how do you intend to do that?"

"Stop the Seed Family any way I can."

"Are you ready to go to war with them, boy? Because that's what it'll take. We are in occupied territory. The peggies have control of this whole valley."

"Then we take it back. But I need intel." My watch beeped, reminding me of my appointment with Agent Huntley. "Have to go, meeting up with someone who might be able to shed some light on how much influence Joseph Seed has outside Hope County." I held up my earbud radio, then gave Dutch my handheld. "I'll be on channel 2. The radios are both encrypted. Feel free to brief me and Elaine on what's going on around here, everything you know."

Elaine looked at me with a sour expression. "And why am I not coming with you?"

"Because it's dangerous...and if anything happens to you, I won't give a damn what happens to Hope County." I turned and headed for the ladder, climbing up to the hidden hatch.

Time to go to work.

ELAINE

I still felt like I was dreaming. My home overrun by brainwashed cultists? My boyfriend, some sort of government-trained assassin? If I walked out of this bunker and saw a parade of tap-dancing penguins, I wouldn't even BLINK. "Dutch, give me the news. And don't sugar-coat it."

Dutch pulled up a map that had several changes made to it in colored markers. Most every area with standing buildings has been turned into outposts for the peggies. Homes, campgrounds, the gas stations, airfields, the hotel, the FANG Center, the archaeological park, the water treatment center, the mines, the ranger stations, the lodges, everything. Most everyone else is in hiding, too scared to show their faces or trying to get out. Peggies got the roads boxed up and they've got barbed wire fences up along the main roads. Now, Joseph runs things from on high, but the county is broken down into three sections: northwest, southwest, and east." He pointed to each section of the map in turn as he explained, "The Southwest area is run by John Seed. He's known as 'the Baptizer', because new recruits are taken to the rivers and ponds to be baptized...right after barrels of Bliss are poured into the water first. Probably what he had planned for you first thing this morning. The northwest is run by Jacob Seed. He's the one that trains the recruits to become 'soldiers of God'. He's always talking about 'culling the herd' and 'finding a place for the weak'. Man's a monster of the first order. But the eastern area...that's run by the most insidious of them. Faith Seed. The eastern area has the highest concentration of the flowers they use to make the Bliss, and even without processing, just walking through the flowers will make you higher than the moon. 'Faith Seed' isn't even her real name, I think it's Rachel...and she wasn't even the first 'Faith'. She's young and attractive as well as being a liar and a manipulator, playing the 'holy virgin' figure to the hilt."

"Wait….Rachel? I went to school with her! Her hair was black, then, but it's her…" I couldn't believe it.

"The peggies have resources all over the place. There are three missile bunkers here, and the Seed Family have commandeered them all to make sure they can't be assassinated. Rumor has it the soldiers stationed there were among the first ones to be turned, and then the technicians that worked there. They're also storing the Bliss in scattered locations all over the place, make it easy to have some handy once they take prisoners." He stopped. "Hey, there's Rick. Jeez, there are seven peggies at that camp. Your boy better be careful not to get spotted…"

His voice trailed off as we watched Rick take out all seven of the armed men and women using that silenced gun of his and some throwing knives. I barely recognized Rick as he moved into them. They never knew or saw what hit them.

"Well, shut my mouth." Dutch said in disbelief, and not a little admiration. "I thought your boyfriend was going to end up dead or captured, but he did all that like it was his morning commute. If that's just a taste of what he can do, we just might have a chance after all."

"Yeah….who knew?" On the one hand, I felt horrified at the way he handed out death like it was Halloween candy. On the other...words and good intentions weren't going to help my home and the people that lived here. I was going to get used to the idea that the people that were brainwashed, drugged, conditioned into slavery to serve the Seeds...they weren't the people I knew anymore. They would either drug me to the gills to make me one of them...or they would kill me. And if working with Rick was the only way to save this place...then I was going to have to get used to the idea of shaking his blood-soaked hands.

Once my home was recovered from the Seeds...and once the Seed Family were brought to justice...THEN I'll talk with Rick about whether or not there's a future for us. "Dutch, what if we started taking those outposts back? Are there people that would move in, defend them? If we help the resistance take back what's ours, then we loosen the Seeds' grip on this area."

"Now you're talking. If we can deplete the peggies' supply of Bliss, rescue prisoners and attack their resources...we can take back Hope County, piece by piece. Problem was, up until now, we didn't have anyone with the skills or the equipment to do it. I'll put the word out, see if we can find specialists like your boyfriend to help. I've got a few names."

"Dutch, I've got some questions...where did the Seeds get so much FIREPOWER? Every one of them is armed to the teeth."

"Rumor is, some colonel in the Marines came up here with his family to do some fishing. Faith Seed got to him and his family, and they became part of the 'faithful'. The peggies were rewarded with shipments of military hardware, and they've been coming in like clockwork for the past three years. Plus, I've been hearing that we've been getting more and more visitors coming up here for the hunting and the fishing. More military visitors."

"Oh my God…" This just keeps getting worse.

Dutch pulled up the radio. "So, Rick, if we're going to do this... there are places we need to start with. Fall's End Has resources we'll need, but the place is heavily populated with cultists. You're going to need more than your pistol and some knives to clear that place out. And remember…these people, these cultists? Don't make the mistake of thinking you can get them back, somehow. You can make pipe dreams about that when there's fewer of them than there are of us, but don't think about trying to cure them. If you hesitate, _they will kill you._ And then nobody's getting cured. You get me?"

Elaine nodded reluctantly. "I just need to head a ways into the woods to the southwest. I have a few things waiting for me that'll come in useful."

"Rick, tell me where it is. I'm coming to meet you there."

"Just be careful?" Rick asked.

"Oh, sure, that's me, someone willing to make her way into a forest while dodging peggies and other wild animals, because I'm the CAUTIOUS type." I put the radio down and turned to Dutch. "Got some more appropriate clothes for me?"

Dutch smiled. "Thought you'd never ask."

* * *

RICK

.

I made my way to the drop zone, worrying about Elaine the whole way. I could understand why she'd be so determined to protect her home, but it takes a lot more than determination and wishful thinking to fight an army this size. It takes TRAINING. I've had years of it, but her? Honestly, I think she's going to get herself killed.

And it'll be my fault.

Found it. The container was a wide, flat box, roughly the size of a very large door. The parachute was a camo job to make it harder to see from the air, and the extremely low profile made it hard to spot at ground level.

I opened it up and started doing inventory. Heckler & Koch MP5SD, reliable, powerful and discreet. Bushmaster AR-C, fitted with a silencer and a scope. Franchi SPAS-12, reflex sight, and silencer, for subtle close encounters. And lastly, the Hungarian Lynx Gepard M6 anti-materiel rifle, also fitted with a scope and silencer, for those times when you want to reach out and CRUSH someone. Guns for every season, though I wasn't about to carry all of them around with me.

I heard Elaine long before I saw her. "Just in time." I started checking out my explosives when she came up to my side and gaped at the small arsenal in front of me.

"Jesus…" She turned to look at me. "You don't kid around, do you?"

"I'll take the sniping rifle and the shotgun."

"Good. I'll take this rifle." She reached for the AR-C.

"Do you even know how to USE a rifle?"

"I grew up here, Rick. I was fishing and hunting here when I was thirteen. I'm no stranger to guns." She checked the AR-C, examined it for a minute, then picked up a clip, slammed it home and cocked it like she'd done it a thousand times before. "I'm just a stranger to shooting PEOPLE."

"Well...just be careful you don't shoot ME." I looked her over, realizing she'd traded in her jeans and tank top for a set of camo BDUs and a camo hat with a wide brim. "Looks like you're dressed for the part now."

"What's the plan?"

"We're going to lead them outside of town and use some CAD tactics."

"'CAD'? We're going to show them some 3D software?"

"No. 'CAD' is short for 'Confuse, Annoy, Destroy'. We need to lure them out of town and let them think they're being sniped at from one direction, when they're really being hit from another. To do that, we're going to need some of those guns from the guys I took out earlier, some coat hangers...and a mirror."

"All right, Rick. What do you want me to do?"

"Cover me, make sure nobody gets lucky. Come on...Fall's End isn't going to liberate itself."

And with that, we made our way to the town, hoping that there were some sane people left there…

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED….


	2. Chapter 2

**FAR CRY 5: The House Of Cards, Part 2 - Running The Table**

 **By C. Mage**

.

.

RICK

We got to Fall's End easily enough, but the terrain was troublesome. The only real elevated positions were on the rooftops, which meant I was going close. I took out the wire hangers and the pieces of the broken window we took from Jess' house. I expected to have to take care of Jess then and there, but thankfully, she was already gone, probably went to report to John Seed that the victim-du-jour decided to pass on her brain-scrubbing appointment. Jess was probably already singing away everything she knew about Elaine to make it easier to find her and recapture her.

John Seed didn't know it yet, but he'd picked the Devil's own row to hoe.

I showed Elaine how to make the wire hangers into supports, then tied a string to the pieces of glass, then put each one on a wire hanger. "Now put these along the ridge of that hill and one on top of that tractor over there, then get back quick and cover me from here. I'm going in." I hunkered down, crouching as I moved closer. It took me a few, but I got to the first building and climbed up to the roof, patiently looking around for the cultists. I identified the targets...Dutch wasn't kidding, I counted more than two dozen cultists.

I smiled. Twenty-seven cultists in all. Yeah, it was clear they didn't know I was here yet.

I started with the stragglers around the edges of town, the ones alone. Six down. Then I looked for the ones who wouldn't go down easy. There was one with a M60EA light machinegun about a hundred and twenty yards away that had to go. I waited until he was in view of where Elaine set up the decoys, then I put a round into his forehead as he was turning in my direction. THAT woke the others up and they started looking around to find out what was going on. One of them took out some binoculars and looked towards the decoys...seeing sunlight reflecting off the pieces of glass.

And just as I thought, they thought they were looking at a line of five snipers. They started spreading out, taking cover and sending out more than half of their number to rush the "snipers".Of course, from my position, they had less cover than they thought, and I started picking them off, starting with the ones from the rear. By the time the group had gotten to the decoys, the group membership had dwindled to two, and it took me all of six seconds to revoke their membership.

Down to nine.

I slung the sniping rifle on my back and got out the shotgun. The peggies should be regrouping, trying to figure out what to do next. I needed to get to them before they called for reinforcements. Looks like one of them's going for a radio, but I get into the building first. He opens the door, sees me, and then I open HIM with a round from the SPAS-12. I'm out the back door almost before he hits the floor, already moving to my next target. I begin to circle the cultists, moving from cover to cover, taking shots of opportunity and quickly moving on, climbing up tp the rooftops and ambushing them from above. The only times I pause is to reload, listening to them converging on where I used to be.

By the time they realized just how much trouble they're in and that no one was able to call for reinforcements, there's only four left and it's too late. I come towards them and they're raising their guns. "You know what the main problem with panicking or getting angry during combat is? You forget to remember the basics...like counting bullets."

"Who are you?" one of them demanded, dropping his AK-47, pulling out a knife.

"Well, very soon now, the Seed Family is going to feel like they're being jabbed with a very sharp stick. And no matter what they do, it's going to keep jabbing them, harder and more painfully. That's me. I'm the stick."

"You cannot stop us. We are the Chosen of God, set apart from other sinners!" The one with the knife suddenly charged forward, and I promptly blew him in half. I turned to the others.

"If that's the case, today's your lucky day. Today, you all get to report back to the Home Office in Heaven."

* * *

ELAINE

The shooting's stopped. I can only imagine what went on in Fall's End, but I really hope Rick is as good as he says he is. Then I see the flare go up, indicating that the town's been cleared out of cultists. It's getting easier to stop thinking of them as the people I used to know, grew up with.

Still not easy, though. I walked into town, seeing the bodies of the people Rick killed. Most of them were unfamiliar, so I was handling it….right up until I saw the body of my high school coach, Mr. Winters. Head coach for the Hope County Cougars. Always supportive, but not a creep. Now everything that made him what he was lay on the ground behind him, a spray of gray matter.

I threw up when the smell hit me and I realized what I was smelling. Brain tartare. God, what a mess. My throat burned and I didn't realize I was crying until I saw my tears dripping onto the street under me. I knew I had to find Rick, but I wasn't sure I wanted to, knowing he made all this happen.

Then I saw something that made me pause.

A billboard, showing the face and upper body of a bearded man with a smiling face, a benevolent right hand held up, and next to him the words, "WE LOVE YOU AND WE WILL TAKE YOU" on it. Except for those last five words, there was nothing wrong with the message. With those five words...EVERYTHING was wrong with it.

And that's when I understood.

This was my _home._ And the Seed Family was turning it into a nightmare. That's the point it finally felt real to me. This was happening.

"Elaine?"

I spun around to see Rick standing there, and then the next thing I knew, I was in his arms and I didn't care if I'd ran to him or he'd ran to me. NOT important.

"Are you all right?" he asked me, and I just nodded.

"Rick, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Looks like Fall's End is secure. Better get Dutch on the radio while I go check the perimeter, make sure there aren't any stragglers. I've already checked the buildings."

I drew back slowly and looked up at him. "Rick...when you get back, we need to talk."

* * *

RICK

Great. "We need to talk". The four words that made me least likely to want to come back. What good has EVER come from those words? Nope, gotta focus right now. Need to really get this together.

I collected all the guns and spare ammunition and put it on a table in the center of town. The real surprise was the machinegun mounted on the roof of the building in the center of town, the…"Spread Eagle". Okay, that's a name I'll remember. Nice marketing. I made a point to move the machine gun to someplace more strategic, maybe someplace with some cover. Also, on my walkaround, I found out the place has a church, a bar, a general store AND a gun store. Wow, everything every small town needs to be an American town.

By the time I was done, cars were coming into town, and they weren't dressed like the cultists. A blonde woman was walking into the Spread Eagle like she owned the place, which was a reasonable indicator that she just might.

Can't put it off any longer...time to go find Elaine.

* * *

I caught up with her at the church. She was talking to a black man wearing black clothes and a pastoral collar. "You in charge around here?"

He turned to me and smiled. "Seems I'm now both the spiritual leader and the _de facto_ leader. I'm Pastor Jerome Jeffries. Elaine tells me we have you to thank for taking back our town, Rick. I wish I could say that was enough, but we are still outnumbered and outgunned, without proper supplies. What's your plan?"

"I'm going out to undermine the resources in this area, loosen John's grip on this place. The more areas I liberate from the peggies, the more places become available for the non-brainwashed to come and claim as their own. The resources I take from them, the more we will have, and the safer everyone will feel."

Pastor Jeffries nodded. "Are you a man of God, Rick?"

"I dunno….lost my faith a while ago. But I know what right and wrong are, and the peggies couldn't BE more wrong."

"I'll pray for you, Rick. For the past few years, I've prayed for a guardian angel to come down and save us from the Seed Family."

"I don't know about a guardian angel...you may have to settle for a guardian devil." I saw Elaine looking at me expectantly and I said, "Excuse me, preacher, the SECOND highest calling just showed up."

"Of course. God go with you."

Elaine walked with me as I muttered, "Think maybe God's going to be taking a powder on this one."

"Rick...what are we going to do?"

"I've been thinking about that. Elaine, you know the people around here, you know the territory. I don't. I need you to help keep people together, motivated, united. If there's someone out there who needs help, I need to know who they are and where they are. Also, I need you to get on the CB and try to call someone for me, get the word out that I need him in Hope County."

"Who?"

"His name is Jack Burton, rides a rig called the 'Porkchop Express'. Once we start getting supplies, we're going to need someone who can make sure the places we liberate can get people and supplies to and from those places. And he's the only trucker I know crazy enough to take the job."

"And what are you going to be doing while I'm doing that?"

"Those peggies want to get closer to the Lord, I'm going to make sure His holy appointment book is filled for the next few years. But not John Seed, or any of the other Seeds. I'm not going allow the Seeds to become martyrs for their cause. They're going to spend the rest of their lives surrounded by gray stone and steel bars, or stuck in little rooms with rubber wallpaper."

"Rick…"

"Elaine, can you honestly say you'd be able to handle the idea of picking up a gun, pointing it at someone you were friends with in third grade, and pulling the trigger? That you wouldn't hesitate? Because from what I've seen, these peggies will gun you down and thank the Father for the chance to do that. You have to let me do this...because it's what I've trained for."

"Rick, LOOK…" She grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me closer. "I've only known you for four months, but why this James Bond routine? _Why didn't you tell me?_ "

"Because of the reaction you're having right now. Right now, you need someone like me to keep you alive. But what if you didn't need that at the time? Could you stand here and tell me that you'd be fine with me being a professional killer? A hitman?"

"Well, I guess we'll never know, will we?" She let go of my shirt.

"Maybe that's a good thing."

As I walked away, I heard her say, "Please tell me that, if I shaved the back of your head, there wouldn't be some kind of barcode there with a number ending in forty-seven…!"

I shook my head and called back, "What do you think this is, Elaine? Some kind of video game?"

And with that, I went to work.

* * *

I think it was when the second silo went up in a ball of fire that they noticed someone else was here, someone that wasn't a native. I'd been scanning their comm frequencies, isolating the ones the Seeds use to talk to their brainwashed minions, and ones they use to talk to each other. Once I added those to the radio's memory, I kept very close attention through the earpiece.

John Seed was mobilizing, sending out search parties to find the person responsible. He also chose to make a little broadcast, showing two of the deputies, two women, both bound and gagged using duct tape. As he went on, he talked about how all my problems could be solved, my sins washed away, with the power of one word…"YES". In other words, capitulating to his commands. He went on, stating that his people were going to find me, bring me to him for confession and atonement...and that I wouldn't have to do anything since they would come for me.

I smiled. "Be careful what you wish for," I muttered. Time to get to know some of the people here in Hope County, particularly Nick Rye. Word is that he's got himself a plane, one that's been converted to combat specs. A minigun and bombs would come in handy for getting around, and if Nick can help by patrolling the skies, it'll make things that much safer for everyone.

As I got closer to his airfield, I heard the sounds of gunfire. Looks like the peggies are making a bid to take over the airfield, and Mr. Rye isn't planning on simply handing over the deed. I couldn't help but smile. These peggies were making it easy for me.

I circled around to the rear of the group attacking Nick in the hangar, drawing out the shotgun. With all their firepower making noise, it would make easy cover for the silenced shotgun. And to make sure the peggies would stay down once shot, the shotgun was loaded with sold slugs.

I staggered fire, taking out the ones at the rear first, taking cover and reloading every third shot. When the eighth one died, I think that's when they realized they were in trouble. As they turned, I was nowhere to be seen...and they started getting hit by Nick, forcing them to divide their attention. There were only three left by that point, two firing at Nick, one with his back to Nick, behind cover, looking for me.

I blew out his chest from behind some crates, making a hole big enough to toss a baseball through. When the other two saw what happened to their friend, they closed ranks, moving behind a car for cover. That would've been trouble if I hadn't anticipated their next move. I tossed a grenade under the car's rear, the shrapnel from the grenade and the exploding car finishing them off.

I reloaded and checked the area for any reinforcements, then went over to talk to Nick, who was reloading his assault rifle. "We're TRAPPED, man! We're fucking TRAPPED!"

"What's the situation?" I asked quickly.

"Those peggies took off with my plane! I swear, I'm going to KILL John Seed! That was our ticket out of here!" I got a closer look at him. Jeans, t-shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses. His clothes were dirty and sweaty; he must have been fighting with those peggies for hours. "You gotta help me get my plane back! I'd go myself, but my wife, she's pregnant and due any second and...I just don't know what I'm supposed to do…"

"Don't worry, I'm here to help. I'm Rick. Dutch sent me."

"I'm sorry...I don't mean to get emotional...my name's Nick, by the way."

I smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, Nick. Now, you take care of your wife and you leave the rest to me. Now, where would they take the plane?"

"John Seed's ranch...it's the only other airstrip in this area big enough for the plane to take off and land."

I pulled out the map. "Mark it here. Don't worry Nick. It's going to be okay."

"I hope so, Rick. I'm desperate."

I nodded and gave him my radio frequency. "I'll contact you once I get to the ranch, and another once I've secured your plane. Start gathering up their weapons and gear. Those guys out there won't be needing them anymore. And since they brought those trucks, feel free to put them back in them. Last thing you want is them stinking up your airfield."

"All right. Man, you act like you done this before."

I smiled at Nick again, this smile more predatory. "A few times. I'm off. Keep your head down and start with the bodies closest to the road." I checked the map. Not too far, about eight hundred yards to the southwest, as the crow flies.

Time to move.

* * *

ELAINE

I was sitting at the Spread Eagle when Mary May came over with a bottle of beer. "Just heard from Nick Rye. Seems your boyfriend paid him a visit, after sending a bunch of peggies to meet their Makers." She smiled and popped the top off the bottle. "Oh, to be a fly on THAT wall."

"You seem to be taking a lot of joy out of people we know being killed, Mary May." I picked up the bottle and took a long pull on it.

"Those people died a long time ago when the Seeds turned them into what they are now. Do you know they're even using the Bliss on animals? Makes them even more dangerous, but they follow the peggies around like they're PETS. And if you don't want to drive yourself insane, stop thinking about them as people you know. Those people are GONE."

"And you condone what Rick is doing?"

Mary May stared at me. "And you don't? Lainey, honey, those peggies out there? They're like the living dead. They look alive, they act alive, but they're dead inside."

"There must be a cure or an antidote or SOMETHING we can use…"

"Lainey, most of the people that have that kinda knowledge are peggies themselves! If you know of a lab around here with some PhDs hidden away, please, trot them out and put them to work! What Rick is doing out there? It's mercy killing, plain and simple."

I felt defeated. I didn't like what was going on, but Mary May was right. We didn't have the resources to stop this any more than we had the means to stop freight trains with wishful thinking.

"Besides, Lainey...I thought you would be proud of Rick for what he's doing."

"Proud? Of him killing people?"

Mary May looked at me like I'd just grown another head. "Honey, don't you get it? You think he came here for the fishing? He came here because he knew you were in trouble. He didn't come here for US; he doesn't know any of us from Adam or Eve. He's taking on an ARMY, for you." Mary May chuckled at me. "Lainey, if that's not enough for you, throw him my way. I'd take a man like that any day of the week and twice on Sunday...and I wouldn't boot him outta bed, either."

As she walked off to talk to the other survivors, I sat there, the half-empty beer bottle in my hand. I couldn't believe what she said. More unlikely, how much sense it made. In fact, the more I thought about it...the more….ROMANTIC it was. It was crazy, but no more crazy than anything else in Hope County.

I was considering how badly I wanted to finish my beer when Pastor Jeffries opened the door wide, his face alarmed. "There's a peggie patrol coming up the road. Probably come by to figure out why they can't raise anyone here! We need to move, everyone grab a weapon and a clip. Lainey, can you work the machine gun on the roof?"

"I'll figure it out!" As the others, including Mary May, started arming themselves, I went outside and climbed up the ladder to the roof. I looked out to the east and there they were, two trucks, both armed with a mounted machine gun.

I waited. Rick had warned us this might happen before he left. Right now, the peggies were searching. Unaware, plain and simple. For all they knew, it was a technical problem with the radio. Pastor Jeffries had worked out the plan on what to do: wait until the got to the middle of, use gunfire to split them up, then focus fire on the outside flanks and work our way to the center. The person on the roof was to hammer the vehicles with the machine gun until they were unusable, removing any stragglers that stuck with the vehicles.

Six people were moving west. One of them stuck behind with the vehicles to take advantage of the extra firepower. I'm glad it was dark and that the trucks were too far away for me to see the gunner's face.

Then the shooting started.

I fired and held the trigger down, shooting at the gunner. I expected him to go down a lot later than expected, but I must've got in a lucky shot; I fired only ten bullets before he dropped. After that, I swiveled the gun around to see if I could get a better shot at the others. No such luck for me, but it took only a few minutes for the shooting to stop.

"Lainey? This is Pastor Jeffries. We're clear down here."

I was instantly relieved. "I took out the peggie on the truck on the right. Neither of them is visible from the road unless someone gets close." I thought about it. "Pastor, might want to put the working truck close to the east entrance to the town and put someone in peggie clothing. Might confuse any patrols long enough for us to get prepared for them."

"Good thinking. Come on down, we're collecting all the peggies' gear and guns. I'll send someone over to the trucks to see if anything from the one you shot up is still serviceable. Nice work up there."

I put the radio on my belt and climbed down the ladder. I was expecting to feel guilty or horrible, knowing what I'd done, but I didn't. Maybe Mary May was right. The peggies were beyond help right now, and it didn't make any sense going easy on them, not when they wouldn't go easy on us.

Maybe I couldn't cure them...but I could still AVENGE them.

I was actually looking forward to seeing Rick again.

* * *

RICK

Well, well. John Seed, ain't you been doing well for yourself. The ranch house was truly spacious, with its own private airfield, plenty of living space and storage space, a few ATVs and an SUV. Really well designed and aesthetically pleasing.

Be a real SHAME if something happened to it.

I counted the number of hostiles. More than the ones in Fall's End and three of them were outfitted with heavier weapons...flamethrowers and light machine guns. Also, points of entry were limited. That suited me just fine.

I moved in close, close enough to spit at them, then laid out some gifts for them, C-4 surprises with proximity detectors. The ground was soft enough for me to bury them and cover them with dirt before arming them, with the help of a tactical shovel. Then I made my way back to my perch, brought out the sniping rifle...and as one of my friends from Louisiana would say, "laissez le bon temps roulez".

Let the good times roll.

I took out four of the stragglers and neatly removed the helmet of on of the heavies, just enough for them to figure out where I was. Of course, by the time they decided to act on that, I'd already left that perch for another one. Five of them started to approach, including one of the guys with the flamethrowers, and walked exactly where I wanted them to, setting off the proximity fuse and removing them from the planet.

Nine down, six to go.

I moved around and got to my second perch when I realized something. They had a bear in a cage on the grounds. That made no sense to me, why cage an animal instead of shoot it? Well, I had no intention of shooting some poor animal in a cage.

However, I had no qualms whatsoever about shooting the LOCK on the cage.

The cage door opened and it was clear that the bear wanted to properly reward its captors for their luxury accommodations and stellar customer service. I waited for the bear to thoroughly maul the rest of the peggies, but the last one was the other flamethrower wielder. The bear wasn't prepared for that, and ran off into the woods, presumably to lick its wounds. I bet Mr. Fire-Wielder was feeling pretty good about his choice of weapons...right up until I put a round though his tank. Went up like a roman candle.

The ranch thoroughly cleared, I radioed Mary May and advised her to send some people up this way to secure it, clean it up and fortify it. I no sooner put down my radio than another radio inside started making noise. I went inside to hear John Seed's voice coming over the radio. "Tobias, have you relieved Mr. Nye of his property? Answer me."

I took a seat nearby and waited patiently.

"Tobias, come in! Answer me!" A few moments more, then John yelled into the radio, "ANSWER ME!"

Timing is everything. I picked up the mike. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid that all parties at this number have been... _disconnected._ Right now, Tobias isn't able to answer anything except maybe the doorbell in HELL."

A pause, then, "WHO IS THIS?"

"Santa Claus. And you have ALL been very naughty this year. So much so, in fact, that I've started a new punishment program. Good boys and girls get gifts. Bad boys and girls get what they have taken away from them. For example...this ranch of yours with the nice airfield. You've been so naughty than I didn't even want to wait until Christmas to take it away from you."

"So. You've taken my home in the name of your little Resistance." His voice had lost all of the charm, now riddled with a sarcastic tone. "Ah, if those walls could talk...well, more accurately, scream...just know that I _will_ get it back, sooner or later. And when I do, maybe I'll hang your skin as a trophy over the mantle. You're a DEAD MAN, whoever you are."

"Yeah...I get that a LOT." I dropped the mike and walked outside to wait for the Resistance to send people over to secure the ranch.

* * *

Once the ranch was secured and fortified, I walked into the hanger, which was almost a part of the house. There she was, a bright yellow seaplane with mounts for dropping bombs and a minigun mounted on the underside of the fuselage. Time to fly the unfriendly skies.

I got in, started her up and taxied the plane out of the hangar, getting her out onto the runway. I picked up my radio. "Nick, your plane is secured, I'm flying her back to your airfield."

"Yeah, I just heard about it on the peggies' radio. Man, are they pissed! Talking about some 'unidentified sinner' attacking the ranch."

"Well, do me a favor, don't use my real name over the radio. Call me…'Chris'."

"Okay, if you insist, 'Chris'. Do me a favor? On your way back, put my girl through her paces, make sure the peggies haven't messed with her."

"You got it, Nick." I brought the plane up, keeping it low, but giving her a regimen of sharp turns and simple maneuvers. As I steered towards Nick's airfield, he kept talking about having to evacuate, but the way he was talking, he sounded more like he was trying to persuade _himself_ into packing up and leaving. But he eventually talked about regretting leaving behind something his family had built. As much as I wanted him to use his plane to help me out, I didn't want him to be here if he had a family to think about.

I brought her in, after testing out the guns on a couple of peggie silos, and performed a textbook landing, taxiing the plane over to the hangar. Nick was waiting, looking like a kid on Christmas morning right before wrapping paper was turned into confetti. "Oh my God...oh my God, LOOK at her...sonuvabitch you did it! YOU DID IT! Thank you!" He started giving the plane a looking over. "KIM! THE PLANE'S BACK!"

A female voice called from the house, "I know! I heard!"

"Come on, help me turn her around." As I helped Nick, he laughed and said, "For the first time, I feel like shit's actually going my way. Those damn peggies….KIM, COME ON! Please, tell me they didn't fuck with her. You know, this plane's been in my family for three generations…"

It was clear that Nick was devoted to this place and this plane, though he didn't strike me as being particularly smart, he definitely wasn't dumb. As he talked about the legacy of his family and called for Kim, I heard a woman's voice from the house, calling for Nick. "Nick? NICK? THE PEGGIES ARE ON THEIR WAY!"

"WHAT?" he called out, but I heard the plane coming in for a run, flying overhead and dropping a bomb, barely missing one of the hangars.

"Nick, get into the air! I'll protect Kim! Get airborne!"

Something galvanized within Nick and he nodded, getting into the plane and throttling forward. I drew my pistol and took off for the house seeing the truck coming in and peggies jumping out. I didn't waste a second, taking out the two on the porch and bursting through the door, taking out a third on the ground floor and a fourth up the stairs, trying to get at Kim. Once I secured the house, I reloaded and went back downstairs, seeing more peggies trying to get in.

There's a special place in Hell reserved for men trying to kill pregnant women, and I made sure to send all five of the peggies that tried to rush the house to their final destination. Then I holstered the pistol, bringing out the shotgun, fully loaded and with an extra already in the pipe, rarin' to go.

As soon as I got to the hangar, I saw four peggies waiting for me, but they had their back to me, trying to find anything of worth. The first two never saw me coming, and the second two saw me, but by then, it was already too late. I was starting to feel good about this when I felt the bullet whiz past my left ear and I dove for cover. I used my pocket mirror to get a better look.

Snipers. THREE of them. Things just got a LOT more complicated. They had an elevated position. Even if I was fast enough to take out one of them, the other two would have me dead to rights. I was looking around for what seemed to be ever-dwindling options when I heard Nick's voice on the radio nearby, giving a triumphant whoop as the minigun mounted on Carmina chewed up the snipers' perches. When he finished the run, only one sniper was left, and when he looked down his scope at me, his last view in this world was the sight of me already sighted in on him. I put the round right through his scope and into the eye behind it.

Just in time, too. Reinforcements had arrived, a truck and two ATVs. They had barely exited their vehicles before Nick had started another attack run...only this one was a BOMBING run. I watched, a little impressed, as Nick's bombs decimated the reinforcements in less than a split-second. I moved out of the hangar carefully, making sure there were no survivors. As it turned out, I hadn't needed to worry; Nick was a lot better than I expected.

I went back to the radio in the hangar. "All clear down here, Nick."

"All clear up here, too. I'm comin' in. Mind sticking around to help us with the luggage?"

* * *

"Come on, Kim, we're leavin'." Nick walked out of the house with two suitcases.

"No." Kim's voice was solid enough to weigh a pound or two. Now that I was able to get a look at her, I could see she was devoted to Nick, stubborn...and ready to give birth, like, NOW.

"'No'? Whatddya mean, no?" Nick asked, setting down the suitcases and walking inside.

"No! This is our HOME, Nick." I sighed, picking up the suitcases he'd just walked out with and bringing them inside.

"C'mon, Kim, you just don't understand…!"

"Understand what? That they're stealing our land and kidnapping our friends and doing God knows what else?"

"Kim…!" Nick protested, but it was clear he was on the losing side of this argument.

"Nick, your grandfather built this place. You really want to turn your back on that?" Nick stood there for a moment, then made a move towards picking up one of the suitcases, but Kim moved between them and Nick. "And what about all the times you talked about handing off the business to our daughter?"

"Well...I talked about handing the business off to our _son..._ "

Kim scoffed. "You've seen the ultrasounds. It's a girl."

"Well...that was on a fuzzy black and white screen, you know them things aren't reliable…" He was losing steam and the only one in the room who wasn't seeing that was him.

"Nick…" Kim moved closer to him and Nick finally saw the way the wind was blowing.

"I love you…" He said, holding her close.

"Me too," she replied.

Nick turned and cleared his throat. "Well, Chris, looks like the Rye family's digging in. Hey, if you need any air support, you give me a holler, okay?"

"You got it. I'm radioing over to Fall's End, see if they can't spare a few people to fortify this place." The radio on my hip made five clicks, reminding me of a prior engagement. "Now, if you'll excuse me, you too, I've gotta see a man about a horse." As I left the two lovebirds, I pulled the radio from my belt. "Alpha-Charlie-Echo-Sierra-Pima-Alpha-Delta-Echo-Sierra, give countersign." I listened for a series of clicks in Morse Code and received the correct countersign. "Understood, moving to Point Beta-Two."

Time to meet with the Company man.

* * *

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite wild card." Agent Huntley smiled. "Didn't I see your work over in Kyrat?"

"Wasn't me. Never been to Kyrat." I smiled back.

"Right. Well, time to repay the Company for providing you with the gear and funding you needed. I'm the agent-in-charge that's been monitoring Eden's Gate for some time. I've been sent by the highest authority, but the pre-pubescent eggheads over at Langley tell me this is a 'sharing economy' now, so I've been authorized to liquidate you if you don't want to go out and shoot some more of these peggies for the United States of America." He grinned. "I don't have to worry about that, do I?"

"It's beginning to sound like my morning commute, Agent Huntley."

He pointed to a nearby gray truck. "Get in. I'll brief you on the way."

* * *

"Let me see if I've got this straight, Huntley. You've been tasked by the President to locate a tape that could end up embarrassing him?"

"I hope you don't have any problems with this…"

"Agent Huntley, I may not be fond of the man in office, but I swore an oath to defend the integrity of the OFFICE of the Presidency and I will do everything I can to keep that oath."

Huntley turned to look at me. "Goddammit, Ace, the thought of a man with that much devotion to his country makes my dick semi-erect, pardon my French."

"Well, Agent Huntley, there's something I need you to consider. There is a strong possibility that people in high echelons of the government and military may have been compromised. Nancy, the dispatcher for the Sheriff and his deputies? She's been compromised. This is a doomsday cult with access to mind-altering chemicals able to subvert even the most steadfast wills in ways MKULTRA could've only _dreamed_ of. You need to compile a list of every federal or military employee that came within spitting distance of Hope County. Flag anyone who was traveling through to another location and was overdue for any reason."

Huntley stared at me. "As soon as we're done here, I'll head back to Langley and start on this. Dammit. That means that we can't trust anyone who can send in reinforcements for you."

"Don't. I have to do this on my own. It's what America trained me for, to combat enemies both foreign AND domestic." I knew I was laying it on a little thick, but I needed Huntley to do some digging outside Hope County, and the man was a patriot of the first order. This was a guy whose idea of a vacation was visiting all fifty states in ascending order of their level of patriotism. "The Resistance needs someone to help them defend their homes. They'll be all the support I need."

He nodded. "We're here," he said, stopping a fair distance from a fire-watching tower that had been commandeered by the cult. "Here's what I need you to do…"

* * *

ELAINE

"Mary May, has anyone been able to raise anyone on the CB channels?"

"None. The peggies have been jamming those frequencies for a long time, passed the word along that this place is a dead zone, so only the most desperate truckers travel through here. My dad, God rest his soul, had a truck of his own, the Widowmaker."

"'Widowmaker'? What did he use it for, a war?"

"It's armed for one. Not only is it the biggest and baddest rig on the road, dad fitted it with twin .50 caliber machine guns. Peggies took it after dad died, probably planning what to do with it."

"Well, I can't stick around here and wait for Rick."

"Not Rick, remember?" Mary May cautioned me. "He wants us to call him 'Chris' to help keep his identity secret."

"But I've got to do _something_." A thought occurred to me. "Mary May, could you drive his rig?"

"Barely. Don Baker at the gun shop used to drive a rig. Why?"

"Let's go get the Widowmaker back."

"Lainey, you two want to try to take on a group of armed, trained peggies?"

"Make that three. We sneak over, get Nick to soften them up, and while everyone's trying to figure out what's going on, we go in and steal the truck while they're confused and trying to see which way is up."

Mary May threw up her hands. "You're all nuts...and I gotta be nuts, too, because I'm about to tell you where they're keeping the Widowmaker. Let me get a map…"

I had to force myself not to grin. Was I _enjoying_ this? Is this what Rick feels like when he does what he does? I got on the radio to contact Nick. I should've been scared. I should've been worried about a hundred different things. But the only thing I could think about was imagining the look on John Seed's face with the Widowmaker on the road, steamrollerin' every peggie vehicle that didn't have wings.

I don't know what's bringing out this side of me...but it sure felt good. It felt...RIGHTEOUS.

Time to go steal us a juggernaut.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED….


	3. Chapter 3

**FAR CRY 5: The House Of Cards, Part 3 - Trump Cards**

 **By C. Mage**

.

.

"Here you go, Huntley." I held up the videotape. "I burned the laptop to make sure any copies that might've been on it were unrecoverable."

Huntley took the videotape with a smile, then asked, "Curious about what's on it?"

"Got no interest is witnessing anything that might compromise the integrity of the office of the Presidency, Agent Huntley."

Huntley looked extraordinarily pleased. "Ace, if we had ten people like you back in the late sixties, we would have won the Vietnam War. You're a credit to your country. If there's anything I can do to repay you for your patriotism, you just name it."

That's what I wanted to hear. "Agent Huntley, I am on a mission so secret, not even the President is aware of it. We have an army of domestic terrorists here, once that may have exercised undue influence over loyal United States soldiers that have come here for recreation. In order to complete my mission, I have made a list of the items needed, and the information needed on the outside. This is need-to-know on the highest levels; there's no telling how many have been compromised." I handed him the list I'd compiled before leaving Fall's End, as well as all the information I had on the effects of the Bliss, and a number to my satphone.

He looked at the list as if I'd just handed him the Holy Grail. "Ace, even if only half of this were on the level, I would consider it my honored duty to make this happen. This is a nation's nightmare. I'll assemble the gear you need immediately and be in touch when it's ready. You sure you don't want me to send in a team?"

"Negative. Any deployment of specialists might tip off the Cult's conspirators outside. The success of this mission requires that I work alone."

"One man against this Cult?" Huntley asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I know. Seems a trifle one-sided." I smiled. "Maybe they'll bring in reinforcements, then it'll be more fair."

Huntley stared, then laughed. "Dammit, Ace…" He shook his head, turned and headed for the waiting helicopter, which left as soon as he was on board. I watched him go and smiled. My first real good news; a man on the outside I could trust.

I walked over to the helicopter the Cult VIP had used to get here. Following it had been a stone bitch, but not only was it flying Cult colors, but it was armed with both guns and rockets. And I knew just what to use them on. I got into the pilot's seat and powered the helicopter up. As I did, I noticed that someone had spliced in a sound system, clearly designed to play Cult hymns over the sound of the helicopter. I checked the system out and found out the connections included a USB port. I took out the flash drive I'd kept in my pocket for just such an occasion and plugged it in. Good. The system allowed me to play music directly from the drive.

It was three hours until nightfall. Time to check in with Elaine and see how things were holding up. When I called, though, Mary May picked up the line. "Hello, 'Chris'. What's up?"

"Had a couple of errands to do. Where's Elaine?"

"She went to go get the Widowmaker."

"...she went to go get WHAT?"

"She volunteered to go with a couple of our guys here to go after it. Don't worry, she'll be back with the guys in thirty or forty minutes."

"Better hope she and those guys don't come back in thirty or forty _pieces._ " I sighed, hoping she was all right. The thought of her going up against armed men...does she even have any training for anything like that?

The hours waiting for nightfall started looking that much longer.

* * *

ELAINE

Okay...how tough could it be? There's only seven of them, and Nick's going to be doing the whole "death from above" thing. I've got someone who knows how to drive a rig, so that part's covered. I picked up the radio. "Nick, you can start this anytime. Try not to shoot us?" I looked down at myself. I wish I'd brought something that didn't stand out as much as a T-shirt, jeans and Reeboks, but honestly, what was I supposed to do, raid Natasha Romanoff's closet?

"I got 'em. Give me the chance to get their attention, a couple of runs oughtta do it. Then head right on in while they're busy."

"Roger." I must be out of my mind. "Go ahead and get their attention."

Nick didn't disappoint. His first run shot up three of the cultists before they could get to cover. I winced as I watched, fighting the urge to re-taste my last meal. Even though I wasn't doing the shooting, watching three people get killed in front of me was not part of my daily routine. Then one of their trucks went up in a fireball and it shook me out of my daze. I remembered I was here to do a job.

I turned to Don and he nodded, both of us heading for the side door to the garage. No bullets flew our way, so it looked like Nick had their full attention. We got to the door and tried it.

Locked.

I turned to Don, but his blank look told me he didn't have a key either. Fortunately, despite what Rick might have thought about my past, it wasn't old boyfriends I didn't talk about. It was about the time I spent three years in juvie for breaking and entering. The judge called it "rehabilitation". I called it, "school of hard knocks." For three years, I spent my time learning everything I could from my four cellmates, who were more than happy to share their skills. By the time I got out, I wasn't interested in getting into crime anymore. Too many horror stories from my peers. But, if you locked their keys in your car or your house, I was the best friend you could have.

I took out my lockpicks, getting a surprised look from Don. "You have lockpicks?" he whispered in clear disbelief.

"Well, it was either that, or borrow yours," I whispered back, fiddling with the tumblers. Standard office lock...of course, it was hard to concentrate over the gunfire.

"I don't have lockpicks!" he whispered back.

"You forgot them on a secret mission?" I asked playfully as I heard a click. Number Three Pick does it every time on licks like these. "Shame on you, I thought you'd be prepared."

Don groaned as I opened the door, then we both went inside. I took the liberty of locking the door behind me. Safety first. Only rookies leave the door open behind them if they're not leaving through the same door. Don ran to the cab as I looked for the buttons to open and close the garage, hoping the door would open FAST.

"Get it started!" I hissed.

Don poked his head out through the window, holding up the keys and calling out, "Got 'em! Would you believe they were hidden above the driver visor? I thought they only did that in movies…!"

"Don? Can we please wait to relish the absurdity of all this when we're back in Fall's End? Start the freaking TRUCK!" I said in a loud whisper. And that's when I heard voices outside the garage. They heard Don. He looked up, then pulled his head back inside. "Tell me there's a remote on the dash somewhere!"

"Uh….nope, sorry!"

"Worst. Grand theft auto. EVER. Open the passenger's side door!" I figured I had three seconds from when the door started opening to let the cultists in until I could get into the cab and close the door. I was not about to spend another two seconds getting it open on my own. Don leaned over and popped the door, and I hit the green OPEN button on the box on the side and made a break for it. I didn't remember much during those three seconds. The next thing I knew, the door was slammed shut and I was riding inside Optimus Prime. The door was hard to close, apparently due to the extra metal in it.

The garage door opened, showing two cultists pointing guns at us. It was at that point, I noticed that we were not, as yet, moving forward. I turned to look at Don. Frozen to the wheel at the sight of the guns. I felt that a little polite urgency was needed. I took in a deep breath and SCREAMED at the top of my lungs, "DRIVE!"

That surprised him enough to step on the gas, racing the engine. Then he remembered the clutch, for which I was eternally thankful. The Widowmaker seemed to SURGE forward and hitting the two cultists, sending them to the sides like tenpins at the bowling alley. Seeing the vehicle move as directed broke him out of his frozen state and now he was just driving like hell to be anywhere but here.

Being inside the Widowmaker gave me an excellent vantage point to see two mounted large machineguns on the front of the vehicle. "Don, do us a great big favor and find the trigger that fires those guns!"

A drumming noise came from outside and fire spit from the guns. Oh good. He found the trigger. And just in time, too, because other vehicles were coming after us. I felt a shudder as a truck sideswiped us. "Lainey, they're trying to knock us off the road!"

"Don, you are driving what is possibly the biggest vehicle in Hope County, KNOCK THEM BACK!" Don did so, rewarded with the sight of the truck losing control and rolling over, which probably didn't do the driver and the passenger much help, not to mention the man in the back of the truck with the guns. As he looked to his side. I looked forward. "Don! ROADBLOCK!"

"What did you OH SHIT!" He grabbed the wheel, setting off the machineguns. His wild driving actually did a pretty good job of spreading fire around. It totaled the truck and van currently blocking the road. "The road's blocked!"

"Don, you're driving a nine-ton battering ram capable of speeds up to ninety miles an hour! UN-block it!"

Don actually squeezed his eyes shut and accelerated, smashing through the two vehicles and shoving them off the road in one motion. He opened his eyes at the impact, then grinned. "WHOA…!"

"FOCUS, 'Keanu', we're not home yet!" I stared at him. "I thought you said you could drive a truck."

"Well...I could, I mean, I can...I just don't have a lot of experience."

"How much experience do you have?"

"...dropped out of trucking school after three weeks..?"

At that point, I uttered my first actual prayer since I stopped going to Catholic school: "Oh Lord, have mercy on us all. Just get us home without killing us, please? That is the only thing on my Christmas List this year. Honest."

"Don't you think you're being just a little bit dramatic?"

"We're driving around in an armed semi called the 'Widowmaker'. We have people with guns trying to kill us. They're driving around on anything with a motor trying to drive us off the road. Look in your rear-view. We PASSED 'dramatic' a few miles back!" I took another deep breath. "Oh yeah, one more thing. ANOTHER roadblock ahead."

As Don suddenly looked forward, I realized that this was going to be a LONG road trip.

* * *

RICK

I hope Elaine's all right. What am I saying? I'm sure she's all right, even under the circumstances. Why, you might ask?

Elaine Googled me after our first date. Let's just say that I didn't go to Google to find out more about her. I breezed over some of her highlights. Problem child, went to Prison High School for three years for going into houses she wasn't invited into. College, professional office employment, but outside the office, major-league partier. Thought I was boring because I liked camping and riding horses, outdoorsy stuff. The ironic part about this is that I learned how to survive in a rural environment the same way Elaine learned to survive in an urban environment.

Still worried. The far-off explosions don't help.

I checked my watch. Seven twenty-six. Time to do some redecorating.

I pulled my special jumpsuit over my regular clothes, made sure everything was working, then I got into the helo and took off, heading straight for the giant statue of Joseph Seed overlooking Hope County. As I got closer, I noted the posing of the monument to Joseph Seed's vanity. Just like the Statue of Liberty. Commanding, imposing, authoritative, a symbol of his divine power.

I armed the guns and rockets. I hated it and everything it stood for, and it was coming down.

I started with the guns first, to test its structural integrity. As I thought, it wasn't solid rock, just stone over a metal framework. As the cultists, shocked out of their stupor, started firing into the air as I quickly flayed the statue of its decorative outer layer, revealing that it was actually a storehouse of supplies. It made sense; the statue was in a central location at the highest point in the valley, making it ideal for distributing supplies and Bliss anywhere in the county. An emergency supply storage site.

Well, Joseph, your supply storage site is about to have a REAL emergency.

By the time I'd removed the shell of the building, my ride wasn't looking too good. The helicopter was peppered with holes and smoking, and it was getting harder to keep it in the air. So I did the only thing I could do...I brought it up over the ruins of the monument and stepped out. I activated the shape-memory fabric on the jumpsuit I was wearing, turning it into a wingsuit, and spread my arms and legs.

I was airborne...which was more than I could say for the helicopter. It pancaked itself right at the summit of the metal framework, at which point the remaining structure reached the ninety-first day of its ninety-day warranty. The structure just folded in on itself under the weight of the crashing helicopter, and I had a wonderful view of the proud structure reduced to little more than a flaming crater.

Gosh. I hope there wasn't anything of particular IMPORTANCE kept there…

Time to head home. From this height, I should be able to make it all the way to Fall's End. I hope Elaine's mission went as well...and as safely. Well, safe-ER, I did just jump out of a helo and drop it on a massive structure.

Oh yeah...and it's officially in Faith's territory. She should be getting some very loud calls about this from Joseph and the others. Which means some people are going to be angry. And angry people are off-balance, which should give me time to review their movements while waiting for Huntley's care package.

Looks like things are going according to plan. I expect the Seeds will choose to retaliate, particularly John, since all of this is happening in Fall's End and its environs. And once I do a little more recon, get more info from Huntley...I'll know exactly what to do with the Seeds.

I headed back to Fall's End. I hoped Elaine was all right and successful. She's no sheep in a wolf's den, but armed nutcases are never to be taken lightly. Plus, I need to start putting the information I have together, consolidate the data so I can get the Big Picture. And believe me, friends, I know how important it is to see the Big Picture.

I should. I spent quite a lot of time PAINTING it.

* * *

I got back to Fall's End to find a few changes had been made. The General Store was now the Gun Store, every gun and bullet not already owned by the citizens of this town was set up, ready for purchase. I made my way to the Spread Eagle to talk to Mary May, and hopefully Elaine. As I walked through the door, I heard "Black Cat" by Janet Jackson playing on the jukebox. People turned my way, then a cheer went up. Mary May tossed me a bottle of brew. "Pretty much everyone in the valley saw what you didn't. Good riddance to that waste of concrete. We also saw what you did to what was inside. Rumor has it that Faith kept a personal copy of every little word that came out of Joseph's mouth."

I shrugged. "I hope she made it pretty sturdy, I dropped an exploding helicopter on top of it."

Mary May barked a sudden laugh. "HA! You're gonna love this part. Joseph Seed called in to comment on what you did. Here." She took out a tape recorder and hit play. "I've seen what you've done, whoever you are...but I'm not angry. I'm disappointed. Rest assured that my people will be coming...to show you my disappointment."

When the recording stopped, I chuckled. "He better start getting USED to disappointment."

"RICK!"

I turned around and Elaine was there, and she hugged me for a long moment, then backed up and shook her head. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"A case could be made. By the way, Pot, this is Kettle. I have some concerns about your current hue." I looked down at her. "I think the punishment for grand theft auto is a little more severe around here."

"What were you expecting me to do, sit here on my hands?"

"...not an unreasonable request, you know…"

"Rick? Honey? Sweetheart? FUCK THAT." She gave me The Look. The one that tells me, to the fifth decimal point, how much in dutch I am with her. "This is my home. I lost my parents and my SISTER to the Seed Family, and I am going to do everything I can to make sure they pay for it. And I suppose you have a plan for what you're going to do to them the next time you see them? Please tell me it involves razorwire and their privates."

"No...we can't kill them."

That shut everyone in the room up. Yeah, I just got their attention. I didn't mind so much, I hated to repeat myself. Mary May turned to me with a look of utter disbelief on her face. "Why the hell NOT?! They deserve it, each and every one of them, as painful as possible."

"Probably. But we can't, for three very good reasons. First off, we kill them, we make martyrs out of them. It'll make the cult that much more trouble to deal with. Second, dead men tell no tales, but prisoners can be downright talkative. I want to put them in situations where they'll feel like they've got control, so it'll make them more talkative. And the more information we get, the more we can use against them."

"And the third?" Now Elaine was looking at me skeptically.

"The third, I don't want to kill them. I want them DESTROYED. RUINED. I want them to see everything they thought was true to be as false as can be. I want them to lose trust and confidence in each other. And when they do…they'll turn on each other."

"Even with the Bliss influencing them?" one of the other patrons by the arcade machine asked.

"Especially with the Bliss influencing them. Because I don't think Joseph used Bliss on them at all. I think they have their own reasons for following him. I need to find out what they are." I nodded as I popped the cap off the beer bottle and took a pull on it. "They're running a much longer game. And I need to find out what it is. But first, we need to weaken the influence of John Seed in this area. Establish an area where his cultists won't feel safe just riding in and shooting things up." I smiled. "Let those assholes find out what happens when being an asshole has CONSEQUENCES."

"So what now?" Elaine asked.

"Distraction campaign. Keep John so overwhelmed, he won't be able to corner me. But before we do that, I have some questions. What's with the gun store? Am I going to have to buy the stuff I need?"

"Not just you. Everyone. The Seeds and the cult have been scooping up every resource available. Food, gas, water, clothes, you name it. Beer ain't no substitute for a full belly, but the cult's either hunting the game here to death or turning the animals into Judges. We're low on everything, but if we start some kinda economy, bartering and all, it'll keep people from getting scared by giving them something they can have control over, like their lives."

"So if I shoot a few deer or wolves or bears or Judges, I can bring the skins and the meat in for replacement ammo and supplies?" I considered. It wasn't a bad idea at that. "All right. Fair enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a little more havoc to raise before I head for bed. And, just to make sure, I'll be keeping where I head for bed private. No offense, it'll just be safer if no one knows where I'm sleeping."

"I'm coming with you," Elaine said, but I held up a hand.

"No, you've got to get in touch with Jack Burton. He's got what you need to help keep this area safer. He's a trucker, crazy as a bobcat in a sack, but put him in the Widowmaker and he'll make life a lot easier for the people around here. Now, if you'll excuse me...I need to hijack the airwaves, disrupt communications. Plus...I think it's time we had some other songs for the Seeds to listen to. It's a shame that they're listening to all kinds of lies and bullshit, and I think it would be beneficial to make sure they're listening to songs that more accurately describes their situations...as well as information to make them re-think their life choices."

"Sounds like you're planning on starting up your own pirate radio station."

"Better." I smiled. "I'm going to jam theirs. Mary May, where'd you put my gear?"

"Room upstairs. Elaine, show him."

When we got upstairs, Elaine watched me go to my pack, going through it to get the gear I needed, as well as a beacon locator to get the gear Huntley was sending me. "So...this is what you do for a living."

"Afraid so."

"I still can't believe it." She sat on the bed. "All this time. You're good, I'll give you that. I'm usually pretty good at figuring people out. And here I thought you were boring. Nine to five job, wearing a suit to work, coming home right at five forty-three every day. Nice and predictable." She shook her head. "Never saw this coming."

"Well, to be honest...I was worried about what you'd do if you found out about this side of me." I sat on the bed. "Take out insurgents? Eliminate a drug cartel? Topple a government? That I'm trained for. This, having a relationship, a serious one? I'm not trained for that."

"Well, I hope NOT. I'd hate to think there's a government training room somewhere where someone has a lesson plan named, 'Elaine 101'. It'd ruin my feminine mystique." She sat down on a chair across from me. "Look, Rick...you don't have to worry about me. Besides...there's a few things you don't know about me."

"Like?"

"I didn't exactly have an uneventful childhood. I wasn't a normal teenager, never went to prom. I'm not exactly the girl who had her coming-out party when she was 'sweet sixteen'." She held her hands up, gesturing to the room around her. "Grew up in rooms just like this one. So if you've got any impressions about me being Jan Brady, stop. You'll be more off-base than the Seeds are."

"And what's wrong with that? I don't need Jan Brady right now, I need Ellen Frickin' Ripley. The situation is delicate…"

"DELICATE? You're blowing up monuments, Rick. You're becoming a one-man wrecking crew."

"That's right. ONE man. I need them to believe that they're in a superior position now. They will bring the hammer down if they think an army is rising up against them, or that I have access to specialized equipment. If they figure out what I'm doing, they'll take steps to counter it, but they won't succeed if they can't figure out how I'm doing it." I took a deep breath. "We need to be smart, but also mysterious."

"Like Batman."

I smiled. "Yeah. Like Batman."

"I'm not going to have to dress up in some rubber suit, am I?"

I laughed. "No, Elaine...but don't knock rubber suits. You'd look pretty good in one. No, I'm going to get use some better working clothes that'll make us harder to see, as well as a few other tools. We also need to set up a location that won't get discovered by the cult. Someplace away from Fall's End…" I considered. "Elaine, tomorrow, check with everyone you know here. See what you can find out about the cult outposts here."

"And you're just going to go out into the night and cause trouble."

"You got it."

"Why?"

"It's high time the Seeds learned to be afraid of the dark again."

"Good luck…'Batman'."

I heard her chuckle as I left the room.

* * *

I made it to the drop zone eventually. I knew I had a few hours before the drop, which gave me time to survey the area around Fall's End. The weirdness just keeps coming. To the west is what appears to be some kind of crop circles. To the south, a ranch where the Seeds have been keeping cattle they've stolen. To the north, a garage where the Cult probably has their vehicles repaired and stored.

That means resources, resources they can lose.

I checked my watch and headed for the drop zone, near the river to the east of John's recently-owned ranch and airfield. As I reached the ranch itself, I started receiving a signal from the care package Huntley sent me. He certainly worked fast, which meant I had to work faster before the Seeds picked up the signal. The beacon was intermittent, as expected, to delay triangulation.

This package was bigger...but it had its own wheels. Along with the gear I'd requested, Huntley was nice enough to send along something to carry them all, an ATV with electric motors, making it nice and quiet. I checked over the contents. Everything I needed and more. Huntley was thoughtful enough to add in a few things he thought I might need, including a bow Hawkeye would be proud to own.

Enough drooling. Time to get started. And the first place to start was US Auto.

I parked the ATV a suitable distance away and went in with my silenced pistol and this lovely collection of balanced throwing knives. Nine guys at US Auto. Three at the outer edges, four under the lights, two working on a truck. I could hear them talking, reassuring themselves of their strength, talking about how "souls don't reap themselves."

I moved in from the back of the building, taking the two there from behind, slitting their throats and cutting deep enough to cut open the vocal cords. That reduced their possible options down to one, choking quietly on their own blood. I placed a miniscule charge on the fuse box, just big enough to pop the fuses off without damaging the connectors, then set the timer and closed the fusebox. Fifty seconds.

Plenty of time.

I moved away, then around the east flank, getting ready to move in. I closed my eyes for the last twenty seconds, getting used to total blackness. When the timer went off, the area went to almost total night. That gave me about twenty seconds before their eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Two seconds.

I stuck one in the neck from a foot away, then put one into the heart of the one to my right.

Seven seconds.

I moved to the garage, cutting the throats of the two mechanics.

Ten seconds.

I ran out the back door, coming up behind one and snapping his neck.

Thirteen seconds.

I snapped the neck of the guy going in to check on the mechanics.

Seventeen seconds.

I went to the back of the building, then pushed the fuses back into place, and climbed to the roof. I saw the lone cultist looking around, suddenly realizing that he was alone. I placed the voice modulator over my throat, activated it and took a deep breath, the sound of it louder, eerie and, thanks to the acoustic filter, seeming to come from everywhere. "HELLO, BOY...IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME…"

"Who are you?!" he yelled, still some of that bravado left.

"I'M HURT THAT YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME...COME NOW. REMEMBER? YOU WERE SIX. YOU CALLED YOUR DADDY INTO THE ROOM AND TOLD HIM YOU SAW SOMETHING IN YOUR CLOSET. HE WALKED OVER, LOOKED INSIDE, SAW _ME_ , REMEMBERED OUR DEAL, THEN YOUR DADDY TURNED TO YOU AND _LIED_ , SAYING THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE CLOSET. YOU THOUGHT IT WAS THE BOOGEYMAN...BUT I'M HERE TO TELL YOU THAT IT WAS SOMETHING MUCH, _MUCH_ WORSE…"

The next time I heard his voice, I could hear the Fear around the edges of his tone. "WHO ARE YOU?!"

"YOU LIKE PRAYING, DON'T YOU? YOU PRAY TO THE FATHER ALL THE TIME. PRAY FOR ME, RIGHT NOW, JUST LIKE YOU DID BACK THEN. YOU KNOW THE WORDS…" I purred, watching the panic rising in the last cultist, backing away from US Auto. I kicked up the volume a bit. "NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP...I PRAY THE LORD MY SOUL TO KEEP…" Then I started growling the words, which really added to the timber. " **...AND IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE…!"**

That did the trick. He turned and ran as if the legions of hell were hot on his heels, dropping his assault rifle in his panic. I radioed Mary May. "MM, US Auto looks deserted for some strange reason. Send in some people to reclaim it, and bury the bodies."

"Will do."

"Going radio silent. Get some rest...you look tired." I couldn't actually see her, but that should confuse anyone listening in about where I'm currently located. I headed back to the ATV and headed for Dutch's island. If anyone knew about undiscovered hiding places, he would. And I needed someplace that wouldn't be easy to find.

* * *

ELAINE

I woke up the next morning...for the fifth time.

No, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I kept having dreams about my sister trying to carve me up with a butcher knife, and when I did wake up, thoughts of Rick kept me from going back to sleep. Mary May came in around three in the morning, letting me know that Rick had opened up US Auto for the Resistance. One more place for the Resistance to hold, more supplies that we can use and they can't.

Won't be long before…

I stopped as I realized my cell phone was ringing. Considering the normal signals outside Hope County were being jammed, that meant somebody inside this area wanted to talk to me. That meant either my sister...or the one pulling her strings.

I picked up the phone, took a deep breath, and said brightly, "GOOOOOOD morning."

"Well, someone had her coffee this morning." John Seed. "Hello, Lainey."

"That's MISS Elaine to you, Mr. Seed. Only my friends call me 'Lainey'. So, what can I do for you?"

"You can start by making the appointment your sister went to so much trouble to arrange for you. Ever since she told me about what a troubled soul you are, I felt it was my duty to talk to you, help you understand."

"I understand plenty. You've taken free will away from the people here, made them into your brainwashed army. You've taken away their free will. Not even God, in all His Sovereignty, does that...so guess what that makes you?"

"You've got me all wrong. I asked your sister to bring you here so I could show you the truth, that you can be cleansed, purified, having everything you ever dreamed of...and all you have to do is say, 'yes'."

"Well, John, let me save you the trouble. NO. BYET. NADA. Not a CHANCE. NO WAY. UH-UH. On your bike! Get lost! Leave me alone! And, just in case I'm not being completely, CRYSTAL clear, FUCK. OFF." I smiled. "Let me know when this starts to sink in."

"Oh, Lainey...you WILL say, 'yes'. We will find you. We will take you. And you will join us."

"Really? So I can end up like the people that used to occupy Fall's End? Or your ranch? Thanks, but I'll pass...because I'm not the one you need to be worried about, am I? Imagine my surprise when I walked into Fall's End to find your peggies gone, with only a few blood stains to give any clue that anyone was even there. I don't know what happened, but one thing's for sure: someone out there is pissing in your oatmeal. And I've got a feeling when we do meet, it won't be under the circumstances you're hoping for. Toodles." I hung up the phone, pulled the battery and the sim card, and dumped them in my suitcase.

I sat down on the bed again and took a few long deep breaths. I just declared war on John Seed. GOD, but that felt good. It felt...RIGHTEOUS.

With that in mind, I resolved to go do some hunting and fishing. I don't see manna from Heaven in our future, and I suppose I should start getting used to killing living things in order to survive. And if any peggies come into my firing arc, well...I need to start getting used to that, too.

Hunting season is now open.

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4

**FAR CRY 5: The House Of Cards, Part 4 - Full House**

 **By C. Mage**

.

.

RICK

Pretty comfortable, as shelters go.

Dutch had the right idea, steering me towards a shelter under the ruins of a building the cult burned to the ground. I rearranged some of the debris so the hatch would be hidden even after I went down into the shelter, and set up shop. First, the laptop with the projector, turning a wall into my new "whiteboard". The laptop also included extensive files on the Seeds, who they were before, what happened to them, as well as detailed files on other people of importance in the area.

I've dealt with some serious evil over the years. I'm met men and women with the resumes of demons. I've looked into the eyes of criminals and politicians alike, and I can't remember ever seeing something so purely _diabolical_ as the picture laid out before me. There was a total of 53 different people in various stages and offices in the government and the military that all made Hope County a vacation spot. All of them fallen, or taken bodily, into the arms of the Seeds.

I felt a cold sensation in my stomach. There were _ambassadors_ on this list. People that were representing the country that could be working for the Seeds instead, steering the world towards the Collapse Joseph's been talking about for years.

As I went over the new supplies, I remembered something I'd heard once. Wasn't the antichrist supposed to come from Rome? The fact that the Seeds came from Rome, Georgia, was starting to take on an eerie significance. Okay, no more speculation. Time for more recon...after getting fully equipped. Sticking with the sniper rifle and the submachine gun, but I'm changing my regular clothes. The wingsuit's going into storage, putting on a new jumpsuit using low-profile ballistic armor. Hurts like a bastard, but the good news is that I won't look like I'm wearing heavy armor. Which means they'll be less likely to bring out the RPGs. Full custom mask with built-in respirators and filters. Just have to avoid drinking the local waters; Faith has been using the local water treatment plant to dump Bliss by the barrelful into the local waters, so until that's cleaned up, avoid any water that isn't bottled first. According to Dutch, even the flowers themselves, in a large enough group, will cause a low-grade Bliss effect. The less inhaled, the better...unless I want to end up like the cultists.

And, for a little additional protection...nose filters. Sometimes, Joseph, "no" means "no."

Add in the helmet, the breathing mask with the Punisher skull on the front...hey, out of all the Deadly Sins I've done, Vanity may not be high on the list, but it's still _on_ the list. Got the mini-thermite charges, the improved detonators and triggers, the Claymores, and the new surveillance gear...I was going to be working heavy for a while, but once I finished, I'll be able to track down where John Seed was hiding.

John boy, I'm going to see your fear of Joseph and RAISE you...one fear of ME.

* * *

ELAINE

I was starting to get bored. True, I had people to talk to, but I was going blind reading the same hunting magazine over and over, waiting by the CB radio. It's been hours since I first started putting the word out for this "Porkchop Express", and I'm starting to think I'm wasting my time. Rick's been out for hours, doing God-knows-what, and I'm stuck here, holding down the fort with Mary May.

And the worst part is, Mary's been asking me a lot of questions about Rick. Half of the questions, I can't answer, and the other half I don't want to answer. I got a feeling Mary May's got eyes for Rick.

Aren't we a pair? Rick's some government black ops spook and me, the black sheep of pretty much any family I can think of around here...

I hear the CB sputter and a voice coming over the radio on channel five. "This is the Porkchop Express on a dark and stormy night, reaching out to a town in distress, and I'm hearing all kinds of things. Bad things, terrible things, the kinds of things that make me think the world's gone nuts. A place called Hope County without hope. Well, like Jack Burton always says, 'when it's time to fight, it's time to _fight_.' I'm coming, and Hell's coming with me!"

I picked up the mike. "If you're coming to Hope County, Jack, I have to warn you...you're coming into hostile territory. It's going to be dangerous."

"I _laugh_ at danger, honey." _HONEY?_ "I hear you got a rig built for trouble. I got trouble enough for everybody. I'll meet you at the Spread Eagle...and then I'll show you what I can _really do._ Porkchop Express, out."

"Porkchop Express, come back. Jack?" No answer. I don't know who this guy thinks he is, but he sure has a high opinion of himself. He better be as good as he thinks he is. I turned to Mary May. "We need to start clearing out the peggies that are still in this area, especially on the main road into town. Hit them hard. Get Nick on the line and tell him to get in the air and be ready to use up all of his ammunition. With any luck, we'll be able to take some of the pressure off of Rick, whatever's he's got in mind."

Mary May nodded, then asked, "What _do_ you think Rick has planned?"

"I dunno, but I've got a feeling that, when he does, everyone in the valley will know when he's finished. Get some people together. I know Rick wouldn't have recommended this Burton character unless Rick thought Burton could help, but…"

"I was listening. 'Porkchop Express' sounds like he's kind of an idiot."

"Unless it's an act." I shook my head. "I'll meet you out front. Get the Widowmaker ready."

"We've got about twenty peggies up ahead, all dressed up as construction workers. They've got the main road cordoned off and any traffic coming into town moved off to the side, probably to jack their property and make them into more loyal Seed followers." Clete said to us when he got back from checking out the roadblock with his binoculars. "He drives in there and it's not going to look good, even if he doesn't fall for the trap."

"We've got to clear the road for Burton. How long before he gets here?" Mary May looked worried.

"An hour, sooner if he decides to push the speed limits. Not a good idea along the mountains." Clete shrugged. "Unless he's insane."

"Not about to rule that out…" I considered. "We have to time this right, it won't take long for John Seed to get reinforcements out here once he finds out the roadblock is down. We have to hit them hard enough to allow Burton through and give us enough of a window that we can bring him in without getting him shot to hell. If the Seeds send reinforcements before we can escape...mourners, please omit flowers."

"Can we get a helicopter in the air?" Morgan asked, crouching next to Mary May. "Something to give us a better view? No, that won't work...only choppers in the area are owned by the cult."

"Not all of them." We all turned to Mary May. "There's a few owned by private citizens, like Mrs. Drubman. If we can get them reclaimed from the cult...but that doesn't help us now.."

"Can't we call him on the radio?" Clete asked.

"We have to assume that the Seeds are monitoring the channels, now that Burton actually responded. How is he going to…?" I stopped as I heard something...a far-off horn, long and loud. "Get to the vehicles, FAST! I got a feeling he's coming in hot!" We ran to the Widowmaker and got in, Clete and Morgan going to one of the captured cult trucks and getting in, Clete climbing into the machine gun mount in the bed of the truck. "Aim for the guys on the side of the road! Force the cultists to take cover! Go, go GOI!" I climbed into the Widowmaker as Mary took the wheel. "I hope your daddy taught you how to drive this thing!"

Mary smiled grimly. "You don't _drive_ the Widowmaker...you _aim_ it." The motor rumbled into life and she shifted into gear. I had a feeling I'd better buckle up, strap in and hang on! I had barely managed to buckle in before the Widowmaker came into view of the roadblock, the .50-cals already hammering away at it. Mary May was snarling as the lights showed one of the trucks ahead lift into the air as its gas tank ruptured and ignited. More of the cultists were looking in our direction, scrambling for cover and trading in their jackhammers and flags for automatic weapons. Clete and Morgan hung back, picking off strays as the Widowmaker bulldozed through the roadblock.

Then we started taking fire.

The cultists got their act together faster than expected, falling back and firing wildly at the Widowmaker. It was one durable machine, but it wasn't completely bulletproof. Mary May pulled into a wide turn and headed back through, turning from side to side to strafe the cult vehicles from the other end. Two of the trucks were hit, but didn't explode, but they caught fire in a hurry. When they blew, the explosion engulfed the cultists using the vehicles for cover. Looks like Dutch wasn't kidding about the Bliss being flammable; their clothes must be soaked with the fumes!

Then I looked in the rear-view mirror.

Jack Burton was right behind us, driving a rig that looked even bigger than the Widowmaker, with a chrome-metal silhouette of a woman's profile and the words, "Haulin' Ass" right above it. Whatever you could say about Burton, "subtle" clearly wouldn't be part of any description involving him! Two of the cultists had the bad luck to try getting ahead of him using an ATV and he just steamrollered them and the ATV, nearly flattening everything in his path. He drove up alongside the Widowmaker on the right, giving me a better view of him. Long, swept-back hair, dirty blonde with a little gray peppering it. He definitely had the look of someone heroic; strong chin, handsome, scruffy chin and cheeks, baseball cap and an easy smile, which came out as soon as he saw us. "You gotta be the women I'm looking for!" he yelled.

"Don't get too charming there, Burton! Just follow us to the…" I sighed inside. "...Spread Eagle!"

"Ladies, with an invitation like that, how could I resist?!" He grinned and I sat back in my seat, shaking my head.

"Well, at least he's enthusiastic." Mary May chuckled.

"Imagine my delight. Let's hope he doesn't get any bright ideas on the way over."

"What makes you say that?"

I turned to Mary May. "Two attractive blondes in a gun-toting rig just invited him back to a place called the 'Spread Eagle'. He probably thinks he died and went to Heaven. We better get there quick before his imagination gets too far ahead of him."

"Well, well...it seems that some people just can't wait to get into the New And Improved Hope County…" John Seed. Mary moved to switch him off, but I held up a hand, putting a finger to my lips. "One more person yearning to say, 'Yes'? I can hardly wait to meet them. The Reaping has begun, children. Tell me, our newest guest, do you wish to atone? To see your sins paid for?"

The silence after his words was extremely brief, as Burton's voice responded, "You askin' me if I've paid my dues? Yes, sir...THE CHECK IS IN THE MAIL." I wasn't sure if Burton was trying to sound heroic or not, but he wasn't done talking. "I heard a lot about you Seeds, and all the things you've done to other people. Well, I've had a life filled with guys like you, trying to make the world conform to their little thoughts. I hope you've had some really full lives...because any Seed that tries to turn me into one of your brain-dead brainwashed masses is going end up where all Seeds end up. UNDERGROUND."

"It's clear to me what your sin is, whoever you are...VANITY." John sounded almost content. "You shouldn't be hard to find, and we will find you."

"Not if I find you first, asshole."

"You think you have some measure of control, stranger? Don't be naive, I have this place completely under my…" He stopped as I heard far-off explosions that briefly lit up the darkness of the valley. From where we were, we saw more than a dozen simultaneous explosions scattered around the valley. Looks like Rick's been extremely busy and extremely mobile.

I could hear the smirk in Burton's voice as he replied, "Was the word you were about to say, 'control'? Because if it was, it has a pretty different meaning here in Hope County than it does where I grew up. See you on the flip-flop, John."

I sat back in the seat and relaxed a little in the cab of the Widowmaker. Rick was still alive, not to mention hard at work...and despite myself, I was starting to like Jack Burton.

* * *

RICK

Wow. Those silos were more flammable than I thought. Bet they never saw that coming...of course, they weren't expecting a stealth drone leaving thermite Easter Eggs on top of each silo. Took five hours and change to find all the silos and drop off the small charges, but the look on John Seed's face with the bulk of his resources getting red-hot molten metal and sparks dropped on top of it was likely quite worth it.

I know it put a smile on _my_ face.

I picked up one of the cult's radios. "So, John Seed. Lost your ranch. Lost the plane. Lost the Widowmaker. And now, your silos are badly in need of renovations. Get any calls from Joseph, or have you been avoiding him?"

"YOU…" His anger was almost a palpable, living thing. "I don't need to know what your sin is, 'Kris'...it's WRATH. I used to know a sheriff's deputy who was just like you, Kris...I taught her the importance, the sheer _power_ of 'YES'...the other deputy understood, and she learned and joined us. The other one, however, she's a little stubborn, unwilling to accept the truth. Just like you. You know...since you are so unwilling to pay for your sins, to atone...the people you've tricked into following your lead will just have to pay for those sins instead. And with the sheer _magnitude_ of your sins...well, the atonement that will be required of the people in the valley will be _astonishing_ in its scope. Do you hear me, Kris? Do you understand what's going to happen?"

"Oh, I do, John...but I think you don't. So I'm just going to have to show you. So, don't worry about coming to find me, John Seed. I'll come to you. But I can pretty much guess that you've been a very bad boy this year. You're going to find out, very soon, what happens to boys who get put on the Naughty List." I dumped the radio, since I can always get another one from the cult, and packed up the drone. Time to whittle down John's army and find out where he goes when he's scared.

I checked my map. According to the map, there were six other locations to check, the first belonging to some guy called Larry Parker. Hopefully, I can get his help and get him somewhere safe. Hopefully, he's more level-headed than the last guy I spoke with…

* * *

ELAINE

We didn't waste any time, starting in with Burton as soon as he got out of his truck. "There's some things that you need to know, Burton…"

"So….you're the guy Rick is hung up about. I can see why." Yeah. Not subtle. "So, what do you need me to do?"

"We want you to take my rig and patrol the area, take out any peggie vehicles you find. We can hook up a trailer we can use to keep any air targets from cutting your ride short and keep you in plenty of diesel...once we liberate a few tanker trucks."

"What do you mean?" Burton asked, more focused on Mary May than me. I was trying hard not to feel jealous. Honest.

"The cult's bleedin' us dry. They're taking everything that isn't nailed down or on fire, and the peggies with the claw hammers and fire extinguishers are taking care of those. They're trying to take every resource we got, including gas. What we need to do is hijack some of their tanker trucks." I watched Burton's face, trying to gauge his reactions. "You sure you want to go up against John Seed, knowing what he's capable of?"

His answer was as direct as it was emotional: "SON OF A BITCH MUST PAY," he growled.

"You need a gun?" Mary May asked. Burton shook his head, reaching into the truck and pulling out two large machine pistols. "What are those?"

"Intratec TEC-DC9s. Nine millimeters, thirty-two round clips. Never go anywhere without them, and much more useful than American Express." He then proceeded to remove a sawed-off shotgun. "Ten-gauge, semi-auto shotgun. Six shots, no waiting. Loaded with triple-ought shot. My favorite 'crowd-pleaser'." His smile was infectious.

"You always carry this kind of hardware with you?" Mary May asked.

"Never can tell when you'll need it. And I've needed it a lot more often that I didn't." He put the shotgun into a holster on his right hip, the machine pistols hooked to straps under his arms. Burton also had six knife sheaths arranged on his belt and the shoulder straps.

"How do you know Rick?" I asked, more than a little curious.

He drawled, "Got into a little something when I was ridin' down south. Rick was caught up in it, too, and things got hairy. Coulda drove out of town, but you know what Jack Burton always says at times like that…'what the hell'. We took care of some bad people, got out alive, kept a monster from coming into our world...but it wasn't the first time I'd helped shake the pillars of Heaven." He grinned.

I wasn't sure just how much of what he was saying was fact and how much was blowing smoke, but he certainly didn't hold back from getting his hands dirty, based on what he did at the roadblock. "Mary May, give him the keys and get him a map, make sure he knows what's going on. Until Rick does more to clear out the cultists, things are going to get plenty dicey."

"Yeah, saw some of his handiwork when I rolled in. 'Least the fire ain't green this time…" As he walked out, Mary May gave me a questioning look, mouthing the word, "Green?" as she left with him.

I shrugged. The more Burton talked, the more I wondered if he was imagining half the things he talked about. Well, Rick didn't ask him here for what he thought he'd done, but for what he _could_ do.

I went back to the radio, knowing that it wouldn't be long before Rick contacted us here...at least, I really hoped it wouldn't be long…

* * *

RICK

I really could use some shut-eye. I wish I could afford to right now. But miles to go, and all that. I needed to find out where John Seed was.

I was perched outside one of the cult's outposts, listening to radio traffic and watching the physical traffic. It was all too tempting to want to sleep, since I was in the perfect position for it...and the hours were passing slower and slower and…

WAIT. I just saw a van go by with an escort. It's...it's stopping outside….and John Seed just stepped out. That's it. I took aim quickly...FIRE. I pulled the trigger and the tag, barely the size of a grain of rice, attacked itself to his pants. I held my breath as he swatted the area, missing the bug by a fraction of an inch. That wasn't an easy shot and I would have hated to try to make it again. So far, so good. I stretched out my limbs, coaxing the stiffness out of them as I watched John have a heated conversation with one of his VIPs...probably wanting to know how in the hell they managed to lose all that Bliss in one fell swoop. John's letting his other side show...I chuckled to myself. That was going to be my new name for him: "Two-Face". The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Faith was "Poison Ivy", Jacob was "Bane", and Joseph Seed...who else, but "The Joker"?

I watched as he got back into the van, then I activated the locator and set it for sound cues, and simply followed him on the ATV, out of sight, as he headed back to where he called home.

The trail wound its way up the side of a mountain, stopping at a concrete structure. It didn't take much to realize that the structure was a missile silo and adjoining base. I stashed the ATV and made my way in on foot, my muscles letting me know I was going to pay for all this activity after being immobile for so long, not to mention denying myself sleep. Using my binoculars, I could see John opening up the main door to the bunker, the lights coming on and everything. The thought of the Seeds having access to ballistic missiles woke me up faster than a quart of espresso, and I activated the Geiger counter, moving in closer.

I was able to get to the main section of the silo, at which point I experienced considerable relief...and confusion. The radiation was far too low for there to be a missile in the silo, but it was too high for background radiation. I was starting to get an ugly feeling in the pit of my stomach again and I beat feet back to where the ATV was stored.

Before I headed out, I used the satphone to send Huntley a message: "How many silos are there in Hope County, where are they located, are they active and has there been any activity with them in the past few years? Contact me ASAP. Also, sending you a picture of the Word Of Joseph. Check to see if anyone on our list has one in their possession. It resembles a regular Bible, so keep an eye out." I put it away and then began the ride back to John Seed's ranch to get some rest. As I rode away, I couldn't help but think about the Geiger counter readings. That silo had to be where the other deputy was being held, and as much as I hated the idea, I needed to get a few hours' rest in order to deal with John. I had a hunch that he wasn't going to go easily or quietly.

And too much innocent blood had been spilled already. Gallons of it. I heard about John's habit of "baptizing" people that won't say "yes" to him. "Baptizing" as in "drowning". The more I learned about this guy, the more I wanted him off the planet.

Not yet. John had yet to finish atoning for _his_ sins.

* * *

When I woke up, it was seven hours later, almost noon. I immediately checked in with Fall's End using the radio I brought with me. "Kris to Sierra Echo, do you read, over."

"We read you loud and clear. Got some news. We got the Widowmaker back, and your buddy Burton is riding herd on the peggies in the area. We saw how you lit up the valley with those silos. What are you planning to do for an encore?"

"Well, I'm helping out Larry, you know, the guy who thinks aliens are coming to destroy the earth. Gives me something to do while keeping an eye out for John's flunkies. I'm heading over to the substation now, try to send Larry some extra juice, confuse the peggies into thinking that something else is going on. I'm getting close, Mary May. Won't be long before John is wearing a burlap sack."

"Serve him right and proper if you put three bullets into his head and called it a day."

"I know you've got a lot of reasons to want the Seeds dead, but if we make martyrs out of them, it'll just make the cultists worse. Better that they don't know what happened to him. So, no offense, but I can't tell anyone where I'm stashing them."

"'Them'?"

"Yep. I'm calling a meeting of the Seed Family...and I'm going to make damn sure they attend whether they like it or not. Kris out." I put the radio on my hip and got onto my ATV. Time to turn up the juice and see what shakes loose.

* * *

Oh…..kay.

Well, I may need to rethink my universe. When I went hunting for those alien globes in the crop circles yesterday, I had to admit that the feelings in my body from handling those objects was...unusual. If they were props, they were GOOD props. I came back from cycling up the power from the substation nearby to find Larry going on and on about Anne, the alien helping him, while standing in the center of some sort of Tesla cage. There was lightning going all over the place, and I figured Larry was ten seconds away from finding out how it felt to be Robert Gleason, Junior. I started towards one of the generators to try and stop this thing when I saw something that knocked me right on my ass.

From the sky, a column of green energy appeared, GREEN, and it completely enveloped Larry, partially obscuring him from view. As I watched, he seemed to separate into small pieces, which rose rapidly into the sky, following the path of the beam, until there was nothing left of him. Then the beam vanished, leaving behind Larry's shoes and some weird-looking megaphone-like object.

The power died as the transformer shorted out, and I moved closer. The shoes were the ones Larry had been wearing, but they weren't even singed, although there was a little steam coming off of them. I picked up the other object. It seemed to function like a gun, with a trigger and handle, but the rest of it looked like something from a STAR TREK episode. The only writing on it that looked like it was in English was the word, "Magnopulser" on the handle. The rest of the assembly had a concentric ring as the barrel, with a rotating...something in the middle, suspended by….hell, your guess was as good as mine.

In fact, I was so bewildered by what had happened, and the implications of Larry actually telling the truth about aliens, I let my guard down...and at the worst time.

"HANDS UP!" I heard and groaned inwardly. I turned around slowly, seeing a peggie truck and three peggies getting out, walking towards me. "Well, what do you know….it's the one John's looking for. This ain't your lucky day, is it?"

"Depends on the definition…" I turned to face them, holding the magnopulser in front of me.

"Whatever that thing is, drop it! Put your hands up!"

It was either take my chances and hope this "magnopulser" would at least distract them long enough for me to take cover, or meet John Seed under circumstances I'd rather avoid. "Okay, hold…!" I began and pulled the trigger.

All three of them, to a man, suddenly turned into the equivalent of big water balloons filled with blood. The place where they stood, the truck they stood in front of, even the clothes they'd been wearing, none of those were damaged in the least. But those items were all now repainted the exact same shade of Arterial Red. No bones, organs, bodies, nothing.

I dropped the magnopulser as soon as I'd comprehended the full scope of what had happened to them. HOLEEEEE…! I walked around them, the implications really starting to hit home. I had...an ALIEN WEAPON. I didn't _think_ I was dreaming. Man, this was weirder than New Orleans…

As if on cue, I heard a loud engine getting closer. It was the Widowmaker, with Burton at the wheel. The only thing I knew more dangerous than just the Widowmaker itself. I waved him down and he stopped, pulling off the road and over by Larry's house. I doubted sincerely that Larry would be back anytime soon.

"Hey, Rick. Found a place for me to stay yet? My truck's hidden in the garage in town, but the Spread Eagle's kinda full right now, from what Mary May's says."

"As a matter of fact, you could stay here. The previous owner just left on a trip with some girl named Anne...from out of town. WAY out of town…" I went to pick up the magnopulser before something else weird happened. Somehow, I didn't think Jack would mind staying somewhere redecorated in Early X-Files.

"What's that thing?" he asked as we walked towards the trailer.

"It's…" I sighed, thinking the technical name for it wouldn't explain enough. "It's a death ray."

"An alien death ray?"

"You don't exactly seem surprised."

Jack laughed. "Rick, that wouldn't even be the weirdest thing I've seen THIS WEEK…"

I was about to head out when I remembered to check on John's location. From the look of it, he was still at the silo. I decided to go with the Vector and my blades. Things had to be close quarters and SILENT.

My kind of mission.

* * *

I knew Deputy Hudson might be reaching the end of her rope down there, and from what I heard, the junior deputy that went with the group was already under John's control, and I was not fond of the idea of having to treat her like any of the other cultists. I packed a few other supplies to make sure I was ready, set up the transmitters, and made sure I had everything I needed to secure an appointment with John Seed.

He DID voice an interest in being in the same room with me. It would be unneighborly to deny him the opportunity.

As I moved towards the silo, I got an unexpected call, from Huntley. "Talk to me, Agent. I'm on my way to start planting Seeds."

"The eggheads at Langley came through for us. We've got more than three-quarters of the people on that list, all domestic, with copies of books with that mark. I've got an analyst going over the subject matter and when he reported back to me, he had a brown stain down his pants. Seems those silos were decommissioned, but one of the people on the list, General Cathcart, reactivated the silos and gave them reserve status. Three nuclear payloads were delivered to those silos in the past eight months. This is a certifiable nightmare scenario."

"What's the yield on each one?"

"That's not the problem, Ace. The weapons transferred were A212 thirteen kiloton warheads. Their atomic signature is virtually IDENTICAL to the Soviet standard EK-17 warheads. If those things go off, the systems at Cheyenne Mountain will positively identify it as a Russian first strike. I think Joseph Seed is actually trying to _cause_ the end of the world, Cochise."

"Can you get me the kill-codes for those nukes?"

"It'll take time, Ace. But I'll get them. What are you going to do?"

"What my country trained me to do, Agent Huntley. Wage war on all America's enemies, foreign...or _domestic._ "

When Huntley finally replied, there was a touch of awe in his voice. "Dammit, Ace, just when I think you couldn't bleed more red, white and blue, you prove me wrong."

"Can you get me the keyless codes to get into the silos?"

"Got them right here. I figured you'd be wanting them at some point. Stand by, transferring them to your BatCom." I nodded and held the satphone in the same hand my wrist computer was strapped to, and I heard it give me a beep to let me know the transfer was complete. "Confirm transfer."

"Confirmed. Thanks, Huntley, I owe you one."

"Forget it. To save this country, I'll get you what you need if I have to send it to you by carrier pigeon. Stay alive out there, Ace. Huntley out."

I nodded and ended the call. I was almost there and I needed to be sharp and alert.

It's go time.

* * *

JOHN SEED

Things were going so WELL.

For years, we brought more people into the fold, made them part of the project, made them _belong_ to something bigger than themselves. It made things so much easier. It made _everything_ easier. Sunup to sundown, and the nights, well...so many of the county's women, so willing to devote themselves to the Project, to me. And when the marshal and the sheriff and his two deputies came along, it didn't take long for the younger deputy to see things my way. And she truly did throw herself into her new life.

This truly was Paradise….which should've made me more alert for _snakes._

And one came along, all right. Not a garter snake, not a rattler, not a cobra, not a python. A damned DRAGON slithered into Hope County and started to destroy everything we worked so hard to build. Well, technically, the loyal members of the Project at Eden's Gate did the work, but they followed our direction, our divine inspiration. It's not only an insult to God, but also to Joseph and his guidance when all he's trying to do is help these people, guide them to Heaven...despite their sinful natures making them resistant to salvation…

I suddenly notice a warning light on the console and take a closer look. It's not one I'm familiar with, but by the time I look up what it means, the light goes off. Hmph. We've been chasing short circuits in these silos since they re-opened. Besides, that was the warning light for the main door being unsecured, and I have the only key.

But…just in case...I pick up the radio and call to the guards outside. "Reginald, give me a status report." Nothing. "Reginald, _respond,_ this is John Seed. Status report!" Still nothing. "Reginald, you better not be sleeping on duty, now ANSWER ME."

Finally, I got a response. "Hello, Mr. Seed. Reginald is dead, I repeat, Reggie is not among the living. Oh, and if you plan on trying to get anything out of any of the others up here, I highly recommend holding a SEANCE."

KRIS…! "I'm sorry to hear that, Kris, that means that your atonement is going to be that much more intense, I'm afraid."

"Trust me, John, you're NOT afraid….not yet."

"I'll make you a deal, Kris. Submit and surrender now, and I'll spare you the pain of the atonement you have coming to you."

"Before you start making deals, John... _you better make sure which side of the crossroads you're standing on_ …"

"Don't try to use childish tricks to try and frighten me. I may not know who you are, but I know WHAT you are...and you don't scare me." There was silence, and I was about to let the triumph put a smile on my face when I heard Kris' voice again, only it was lower, deeper.

"SURE I DO."

"There are thirty people down here, all armed and willing to give their lives for Joseph Seed!"

"THEN THIS IS GOING TO BE THEIR LUCKY DAY. SEE YOU SOON, JOHN."

Click.

I put the radio down and noticed my hand was trembling, just a little. I slapped my open hands on the surface of the desk. These men were trained by Jacob. These people were devoted, steadfast, unrelenting. As soon as the shooting starts, they'll swarm him and bring him down. I don't even care if they take him alive or not anymore. I want him FOUND. I want him STOPPED.

I WANT HIM DEAD.

I waited. Five minutes became ten. Ten became twenty. Twenty became thirty. No shots or shouts. The suspense was becoming AGONIZING. Finally, I could wait no more and picked up the radio again. "Has anyone spotted him? Sound off!"

Silence. Nobody has even seen him yet. The entire conversation was nothing more than a bluff after all. I sighed. "All groups, check in and come to the meeting room immediately."

More silence. I frowned. "Alpha Group, check in." Nothing. "Bravo Group, check in!" Nothing. "All groups, check in!"

I felt cold as the radio was silent. I checked to make sure it was on, that the battery hadn't gone dead. It was working perfectly. "Everyone in the silo that can, get to the conference room, NOW!" I yelled into the radio.

Silence.

Finally, feeling somewhat light-headed, I radioed, "Is no one able to get to the conference room?!"

That's when I felt the knife edge under my throat and a familiar voice growl, " _I_ DID…" The knife edge fell away and something with a chemical smell came over my face…

* * *

RICK

He's out. FINALLY. I injected him with a sedative to make sure he wouldn't wake up for 48 hours, then I duct-taped him to his chair, just to be sure. I took out the ball-gag and took great pleasure in silencing him.

I took out the Geiger counter and used it to search the silo from top to bottom. The codes Huntley gave me allowed me access to the lower floors and the secured areas...and that's where I found it.

The A212. And it was ready to go.

I carefully checked it over. The bomb wasn't armed, but it was set to arm with a ten-minute countdown from a radio detonator. I checked over the codes Huntley had sent me and looked over my options. After a few minutes, I found what I was looking for: a kill-code that would completely disable the nuke without letting Joseph know the trigger was dead. I entered the three-part code, holding my breath.

The response code came up, indicating that the nuke was now unable to trigger. Even another nuke right next to it wouldn't set it off.

My first task was complete. Now I had to sell the rest of it.

I went upstairs and set the charges to make it look like the silo had self-destructed, leaving the silo impassable and the nuke buried beneath it intact. Joseph would believe that John was dead, and his secret safe. Now...time to release the hostages.

Let's hope they don't decide to kill me the second I open the doors…

* * *

Hostages released, and almost none of them tried to kill me.

The ones in the cells were easy to open, now that there wasn't anyone to stop me. It was tedious, though, had to unlock them section by section. No Joey Hudson. Good news, I found her eventually.

The bad news was, I found the other deputy, too.

The last room I checked turned out to be the room where John did his conversion work. The "yes room", so to speak. The first thing I saw when I entered the room was Deputy Hudson duct-taped to a chair, her mouth taped shut...but her eyes were wide and she was trying to say something. I knew a warning when I saw one and, instead of walking in or running in, I checked the doorway, then stepped backward a few feet. Nothing. Nothing mechanical, no trip-wires, so whatever she was trying to warn me about was in the room with her. I pulled out a flash grenade, closed my eyes and put my fingertips over them. Hudson got the message and I pulled the pin, tossing it inside.

The flash-bang went off. I knew that, even with her eyes closed, Deputy Hudson would be suffering from ringing ears and disorientation. Fortunately, the _other_ person in the room would be getting the worst of it. I moved in to find a woman, dressed in a white, flowery dress, and for a moment, I thought I'd caught two birds with one net. John Seed _and_ Faith Seed.

Then she looked up and I recognized her from the files. It was the junior deputy, dressed up to look like Faith Seed, clothes, look and…

John Seed. _You son of a flea-ridden, syphilitic mongrel BITCH._

I didn't want to put her down, so I cold-cocked her and practically hog-tied her using zip-ties. I saw the knife she had come at me with, lying on the floor. I kicked it away, not even wanting to touch it, and took out one of my own knives and walking to Hudson's chair. "You promise not to try and kill me when I cut you loose?" I asked, and she nodded. Her face was tear-streaked and I could only imagine what the Seeds had done to her.

I also had no idea whether she had been compromised or not.

"Where's John?" she demanded to know as soon as her mouth was uncovered.

"Where he's not going to be able to harm anyone ever again." I pointed downwards, letting her get the wrong idea that he was dead and in Hell.

"GOOD. I hope he's suffering...oh God….oh GOD…" I had to catch her to keep her from falling over when she tried to get out of her chair. I let her gather her strength, wary of any sneak attacks. Looks like she wasn't too far gone, since she found the strength to get up, walking over to a framed portrait of John Seed and picking it up. She looked at it for less than a second before throwing it to the floor, smashing the glass. "He just….just STOOD there….and watched….as that bastard John did everything to me...he almost broke me...if you hadn't come when you did….I'd probably be just like the rookie...is she…?"

"Alive? Yeah."

Hudson stopped and looked at me. "Who _are_ you?"

I smiled at her. "Just think of me as the guy they hired to play John McClane. I'm here to find Joseph Seed's church, and then I'm gonna huff and puff and blow his house _up._ "

"So what do I call you?"

I chuckled. "Whatever you like. Can you get the survivors and the other deputy back into town? There are some peggie trucks out front, but I can guarantee the previous owners are in no condition to ask for them back."

"What are you going to do?"

My smile was less friendly. "Plan what I'm going to do to Faith Seed. And I better bring a camera."

"Why?"

"Without proof, nobody will _ever_ believe what I'll do next…"

She nodded and left to guide the survivors away...leaving John Seed alone with me.

* * *

"Wake up, John." I slapped him in the face to bring him around. "Wakey, WAKEY, eggs, and bakey." I heard him groan and slowly lift his head up. That small smile was still on his face.

"How does it feel, Kris, to be so consumed with the sin of Wrath that it dominates your every thought?

I smacked him in the face again. HARD. "Sorry, John the Corruptist, but you lost your question-making privileges. Now, you're giving me answers. If I'm feeling particularly generous. I may allow you one or two. But no promises. So, you're going to tell me all about the process you use to brainwash these people into giving up their free will."

"And if I decide to tell you to go swiftly to Hell?"

I smiled. I was hoping he'd say that. "You'll note that there is very little light in the room, but there's a lamp over your head. You'll also look down to find that your pants are gone, showing your bare legs...and the electrodes attached to your inner thighs. Honestly, the things I do for my country. Now, the wires connected a few inches south of your gonads on either side are connected to the circuit which turns on the light overhead." I walked over to the wall and put a finger on the light switch. "I flip this switch...and your genitals are going to find out how it feels to be two eggs and one sausage in a microwave oven."

"I know you...you wouldn't DARE do anything to kill me, because I would have more power as a martyr than I would alive," he yelled, but I caught the hitch in his voice. The edge of panic.

"Well, Johnny B. Bad, I've got some great news for you. You're absolutely right. I want you alive. And now for the bad news. One, there are many things worse than death, John Seed. And two...you would be absolutely SHOCKED to realize what the average person can live through. For example." I flipped the switch and saw him go rigid as electricity took a shortcut through his groin. Only amateurs try this stuff close to the heart.

I flipped the switch off after ten seconds, but it probably felt like ten minutes to him. "Alright, Mister Conductor, start talking, or I flip that switch again until you can smell yourself sizzling. If you look to your right, you can see the trauma kit I brought with me. Everything I need to keep you alive and conscious. Don't make me get out the adrenaline."

"ALL RIGHT!" he yelled, tears forming in his eyes. John Seed was a paper tiger all along. Surprise, surprise. "I'll tell you."

"No bullshit, Seed. I can smell a lie like a fart in an elevator. Tell me anything but the unvarnished truth, and I will make certain that, when I fry your 'eggs', the last description you'll want to use about the experience will be 'over easy'..."

He nodded. "We...found out quickly that torture doesn't work. They would say anything in order to make it stop without any true sincerity. Joseph realized...the best way was to break them down mentally, find out what they truly craved more than anything...and then gave them the Bliss treatment...associating the Bliss with what they craved. Feeling loved. Feeling accepted. Feeling content. Feeling strong. Feeling worthy. Whatever it was, we gave them that feeling with the Bliss. Once they had what they wanted, or thought they wanted...they would do ANYTHING to not have to go back to being without that feeling. It was like...losing a piece of themselves. How far would you go to defend someone you loved, Kris? When it's something or someone you love, Kris...you'll do _anything_ to protect it." He was smiling again. He was PROUD of what he'd done. "Has a worthless soul like you ever had something like that? For that matter, could you?"

"You and I are going to be spending a lot of time together, John Seed."

"And why is that?"

"I'm going to prove you wrong."

"That you actually _can_ have something you can love? A devil like you?"

"Not about that. Something else you told me."

"What?"

" _That torture doesn't work._ "

And with that, I made sure John Seed "saw the light".

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	5. Chapter 5

**Far Cry 5: The House Of Cards, Part 5 - Double Down**

 **By C. Mage**

.

.

Well, John seemed more than happy to embrace his own philosophy about saying "yes" after a couple of hours. And he had some VERY interesting things to tell me.

First off, he didn't know anything about the nuke that had been under his feet the whole time. He didn't even believe me at first, not until I wheeled the nuke right in front of him. Looked like he wasn't ready to go out in a blaze of hot neutrons. After that, he began to sing like Adele. He told me all about Faith Seed, correction, Faith Seed The Fourth. He told me about the Bliss, how he'd been in touch with other people outside of Hope County, confirming all the followers outside and introducing me to a few new ones. I acted like all of it was news to me, letting him relax a little more...bringing me to one of the main topics for discussion.

Namely, how is it that the Seeds don't seem to be affected by the Bliss. He was hesitant at first, so I asked him a little harder, advising him that, unless he always wanted to know what his right testicle tasted like fried in used motor oil, he'd better be more forthcoming.

"There's a chemical compound…developed by the Doc. It keep us from being affected by the Bliss, but we have to take it once every nine or ten days."

"And if you don't?" My finger hovered over the light switch.

"If we don't take it, we start being affected by the Bliss, only it'll cause a reaction...like being on a bad trip," he added reluctantly.

"So there are consequences to this stuff, huh? How fitting." I moved away from the light switch and John relaxed considerably. "Well, you're probably pretty tired, 'Two-Face', so now is the time when you get some shut-eye." I held up a syringe. "I'll see you in about 72 hours. Oh, one more thing. I know you've probably stockpiled a few doses of that anti-toxin for a rainy day, and since I don't want you devolving into a Bliss-fueled haze, where do you keep your stash?"

"Behind the...family picture in the office."

"Nighty-night, freak." I injected him with enough sedative to keep him out cold for at least a week and set him up with a saline drip after strapping him to his bed and locking the restraints.

Now that "Two-Face" was tucked in for the night, it was time to fetch his pharmaceuticals. I wanted to make sure certain parties in Fall's End were immune to any influence from the Seeds, now that I had John somewhere the Seed Family didn't want him to be. And with Burton patrolling the borders in the Widowmaker, they couldn't come in using their vehicles.

A semblance of safety. Hallelujiah.

* * *

Now...this place needed de-toxing. And that meant taking on Faith Seed. I checked the laptop to pull up what I had on her. At first glance, it's a story of heartbreak, tragedy and victimization. A girl, ostracized and neglected by those she grew up with, lost and alone until she found Joseph Seed.

Problem was, there was a lot more to the story, based on the records I found, along with police statement, psychology reports and court documents. There was a lot more to Faith Seed than anyone figured, and the person most like;y to shed some light on this was a woman named Tracey...who was currently behind bars at the local prison. Based on the radio reports, the people running the jail were trying to keep people _out,_ not _in._ The locals were using the jail like a fortress, and Faith's people have been trying to get inside for a while now.

I couldn't help but smile. After all, this wouldn't be the first time I broke _into_ prison…

* * *

ELAINE

Well, isn't THIS a fine how-do-you-do.

Shoulda known that getting rid of John Seed wasn't going to fix things around here, not completely. The cult didn't just pull up stakes and run for the hills when Rick took care of John. Without a sign of John, living or dead, the remaining cultists in the area just became more determined to find him. Faith has the "Chosen" out in their planes, and Burton's best bet is to drive near one of the outposts we've liberated so we can use the mounted machineguns to make sure the Chosen realize they're not welcome here.

But if you think I'm just going to hang out at the Spread Eagle and wait for news from Rick, well, FUCK that. I got better things to do! This is my home, too, after all.

Now, I'm checking out a prepper stash to recover some food and supplies and it turns out that there's some cultists staking out the place, trying to get in. Seems they can't even shoot the lock off, since it's one of those magnetic locks the owner bought from that salesman that came through a few years back. Sold them to almost everyone in town, and they sure got their money's worth. Those things could stand up to a grenade.

Let's see if those cultists can say the same.

Ted threw the grenade and watched as they turned at the sound of the grenade hitting the ground. As they dove for cover, we started taking shots, forcing them to waste time looking for cover and running away from the grenade. Six cultists became two, and the last two had their bells rung by the flash-bang.

I was starting to get a bit worried at how much FUN I was having.

There's a certain lack of...responsibility. I know these are people I used to know, but let's be honest. I didn't get along with most of them. I was the wild child, the Girl With The Reputation, the one most people called the local "doorknob". You know…"everyone takes a turn." I didn't do much to earn that title _or_ reputation, but I couldn't wait to get out of this hick town, where my reputation wouldn't run my life.

And now I'm back, and most of the people that made me feel like shit are now Peggies, and that means they don't have to hide what assholes they are anymore. More importantly, I don't have to put up with their shit anymore.

It's open season on assholes in Hope County. Plus, these people couldn't help what they became…most of them, anyways. Whether that gave it away or had it taken away, their free will is long gone. The Rev probably wouldn't approve of what I was thinking, or feeling, but I wasn't going to tell _him_ about it.

Too much to do.

Looks like I'm getting a whole new kind of reputation. Some of the people here aren't looking at me the same way they used to, especially not looking down at me. I guess they're treating me this way because of Rick, like it was my plan all along to have him come here and make trouble for the Seeds. Not going to encourage that, but I ain't gonna necessarily DIS-courage it, either. I'm no hardened soldier, but I'm no babe in the wolves' den, either.

We get back to Fall's End to find a lot more people have come out of the woodwork and joined together. Place is actually starting to look more like a town now, instead of a collection of zombies looking for an opportunity to kneel at Joseph Seed's feet. Mary May was the firrst to greet me, but nt just because she was glad to see me. In fact, she looked pretty worried. "Lainey! Am I glad you're back! We got us a problem!"

"What kind of problem?"

"Jacob Seed. Word is that he's sending some of his best soldiers down here to try and re-take this area, along with something he keeps referring to as 'the Revelator'. I don't know what that is, but it doesn't sound like something I want to see. The roadblocks are almost in place, but we need time and we need help."

"No. We got everything we need right here." I smiled. "And we've got John Seed to thank for it. Tell the people at the roadblocks to grab cover, then tell Nick to get his plane in the air and to wait for my call."

"For what?"

I put a finger to my lips, feeling the need to channel Elmer Fudd. "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….be VEWY, VEWY quiet….we're hunting WEVELATORS…..hahahahahahahah."

Mary May looked at me with a blank expression. Okay. I deserved that. "Lainey, those little voices in your head, the ones only you can hear, _are they bothering you again?"_

"Trust me, Mary May...you are going to LOVE this…" I headed over to one of the vehicles we'd liberated from the cult and got behnd the wheel. Next stop: John Seed's ranch.

* * *

I had to hand it to John, he had great taste in vintage fighter planes. The plane in his private hangar was a P-51 Thunderbird, complete with fifty-caliber guns in each wing. Be a _shame_ to leave it unattended and underutilized. I was reasonably sure he'd have it gassed up and ready to fly at a moment's notice; since I had no clue how to go about doing that myself. I knew how to fly a plane that simple. Well, in a simulator. Okay, okay, it was a PLAYSTATION 3, but the theories are still sound, right?

I got some help from the people stationed at the ranch to wheel the plane out to the runway as I sat in the cockpit, familiarizing myself with the controls. Flight stick, air speed, altitude, artificial horizon...yeah, the other dials could keep. Found the foot pedals for the rudder, those worked, found the throttle and the choke, okay, trigger for the guns, BIG yes…only seems to be missing two options.

The SAVE GAME and RESTART buttons were missing.

 _That's right, Lainey...you mess this up and it'll mean GAME OVER for a lot of people. Start her up and get into the air without crashing. Baby steps._

I knew that I was going to be busy as soon as I put on the goggles and the headset. "LAINEY!"

"What, WHAT?"

"The Revelator is an armed and armored eighteen wheeler! They must've started work on that when they found out about the Widowmaker!" She sounded more than worried, she sounded freaking _terrified._ "It's headed straight for us! They're setting up roadblocks, but that thing will tear right through them!"

I didn't think the Seeds would be sending an ice cream truck our way, but I didn't think it was going to be THIS bad. "How far away is the Widowmaker from the Revelator?"

"Burton's on the other side of town, and the Revelator's taking routes designed to keep a distance from the Widowmaker. By the time Burton can catch up, there'll be nothing left to protect!"

"Is Nick in the air yet?"

"Yeah, he just took off a minute ago!"

"Good. Out." I switched frequencies. "Nick, you airborne?"

"You bet! Any idea where it is?"

Burton's on the west side of town, heading north, so let's check southwest. There's a roadblock close by there, maybe they can give us more info about the Revelator." I patched in our home frequency. "This is Lainey, calling out for the east roadblock. You seen the Revelator yet?" No answer. "East roadblock, sound off!" Nothing. "Nick, can you see the east roadblock from where you are?"

"Yeah, I'm almost...Holy God…"

"Nick?"

"I'm seeing two of our trucks, burning...and seven bodies. Aw, MAN…"

"Find that truck, Nick. That thing needs to DIE."

* * *

RICK

I've been finding out more and more about Faith Seed, and what I've been learning has been rather eye-opening, in some very unpleasant ways. Seems she's been painting herself as some poor lost child who was shunned by her friends and family, depression leading to drugs, addiction and being victimized until Joseph Seed came along, cue the violins, already. But the more I learn about her, the more apparent her real nature becomes.

Started out young. Wild child from the start, always getting into trouble, always acting up, always wanting things her way. Family was pretty well off, so she grew up spoiled, and her family turned a blind eye to the fact that she was using her significant allowance and sending it all up her nose or into her veins.

Then dear old daddy got caught with his hand in the bank accounts. The SEC came in, started grilling people and going through the books. MILLIONS embezzled. Serious prison time. You'd think the family would take this as a sign and look for ways to start over, salvage what was left of their lives, and they did, moving to Hope County to get away from that life.

But not Faith. She didn't see why the party had to stop, and if she couldn't get what she wanted from dear ol' dad, stuck in Club Fed, she'd get it from someone else. She started getting her friends in trouble, and I don't mean "underage drinking" trouble, I mean "prostituting her friends and blackmailing them" trouble. I've seen all kinds of things on missions, but this girl...she traded drug addiction for power addiction, until it all came crashing down once her secrets got loose. Like daddy, like daughter.

She lost the control she had over her friends and family once all the lies fell apart. Ostracized, broke, on the verge of going to prison...until Joseph Seed came along. Problem is, knowing more about her past gave me plenty of information about her motivations, but what's her _game?_ What's her angle? The onlly thing I know is that it has something to do with Joseph Seed, and that she's the _fourth_ "Faith Seed". Fourth for what? Joseph has plenty of chemists.

What is Faith Seed FOR?

I adjusted my face mask. Based on the intel I got about the land northeast of the Henbane River, I should pretty much treat the entire area as if walking through a meth lab. Only Bliss is much more volatile...and so are the people enslaved to it.

* * *

I made it to the water treatment plant just before nightfall. The trip over was entertaining, to say the least. There's all kinds of trucks carrying fuel and other liquids, probably Bliss, all over the place. The temptation to blow every single one of them to kingdom come was strong, but I couldn't afford to be distracted.

I had a plan.

I'd studied the plans of the water refinery, and the main pumps were behind locked doors, but the water intake tunnels could be used to get close to the pumps. And once I got in there, I could do the kind of damage the Seeds couldn't fix. Only problem was, to prevent exactly the kind of sabotage I had in mind, the lids over the tanks were set up with alarms and loud klaxons as long as the lids were open.

I smiled. This was a problem, all right…but not for me. Especially since there were Bliss containers all over the place, ready to dump into the water table. I moved in, making my way to the control switches for the tanks, and attached a small remote to the wiring for each one. Then I attached some proximity mines to some strategic locations, moved back to a safe distance, and activated the switch for Tank #1. As predicted, seven men came out from the building and the surrounding area, heading right for the source of the alarm.

Ever seen a pinball machine when it starts throwing pinball after pinball into the playing field? Boy, watching those pinballs bouncing off the sides and each other is sure chaotic fun, isn't it? When they came out and I started blowing up the Bliss supply, the concussive force started throwing the cultists about and at each other. I stayed long enough to make sure none of them got back up, then went to make sure I wasn't disturbed while I was working. Some proximity charges in the right place and…perfect.

Time for a little water purification.

* * *

I was in the middle of setting up the charges for the second set of pumps when I heard Faith Seed's voice on the radio hanging from the belt of one of the cultists. "Anyone at the water treatment plant, answer me! What's going on over there?"

I picked up the radio, cleared my throat, and did my best _a capella_ rendition of the first few lines of Johnny Cash's "When The Man Comes Around": "There's a man going 'round, taking names…"

"I know you...you're the one who destroyed the monument to the Father, the one who destroyed my book! What did John call you? 'Kris'?"

"Like 'Kris Kringle'? Don't you know by now that there's no Santa Claus?" I grinned. "But you, honey...YOU can call me 'Azreal'. You and I have a _special_ relationship. I've listened to your prayers, I've heard you voice your most intimate desires, and I'm here to give you what you want. Of course...it's going to COST you. And your down payment is going to be One Water Treatment Plant." By the time I'd finished, I'd walked clear of the blast radius of the charges I'd set. "Paid in full."

The blast ruptured the pumps and the pipes, cracking the foundations of the pumping stations themselves, ensuring that repairs would require a lot of time and a lot of heavy equipment...neither of which the Seeds had in abundance.

"Do you truly think there won't be consequences for what you've done?" Faith said, her voice making her sound both kind and threatening at the same time.

"You're still not getting it, Faith. These are things you must sacrifice in order to give you what you've asked for, and there'll be more to come. Just accept what's to come…and be ready to receive what you've always wanted. Amen."

I threw the radio away and checked the map. I couldn't help but grin. Looks like my high school guidance counselor's prediction is finally going to come true.

I'm going to jail.

* * *

As I got closer to my destination, I became more and more relieved that I'd made sure a gas mask was part of my kit. Down near Fall's End. the flowers were numerous enough, but here, there were entire fields set aside for growing the flowers, crops and crops of them. Just walking through this area without protection would have anyone falling under Faith's spell, hallucinating and dancing to her tune in a very short time.

Even so, might be a good idea to minimize her control over this area. And in the words of Guy Montag, a government agent of the fictional variety, "It was a pleasure to burn."

I withdrew a canister from my pack and shook out some small marble-sized gel packs, tossing at least one into each field as I passed. In about eighty seconds, the gel covering the packs dissolved, reacting to the air and unleashing their incendiary payloads. The payloads were sodium-based compounds, ensuring that resulting reactions would completely flambe the fields.

So, by the time I came within spitting distance of the jail, The landscape behind me strongly resembled the surface of the Sun...which garnered some attention from the cultists currently assaulting the jail.

At some point, the County Jail went from keeping psychos in to keeping psychos _out._ There were almost two dozen of the peggies shooting at the people inside, but couldn't get people inside. Unfortunately, the peggies could always call in reinforcements, and the people in the jail didn't have that luxury.

Until now _._

With all the gunfire outside and the peggies in front of the jail trying to somehow save the crops, it didn't take much to make the rounds, starting with the peggies at the back, then around the left and right sides, relying on my silenced pistol and my knives to quiet down the barbarians at the gates. As always, I had to rely on subterfuge, stealth and confusion; for all my skills, I was still outnumbered and outgunned, and my survival relied on staying at least five steps ahead of the cult. The less they knew about me, the better. To keep them confused, I took them out one or two at a time, then moved to another group to keep them guessing. Took longer, but it was a good workout, and by the time I was done, all that was left of the peggies were worm-food applicants.

The shooting stopped and the door on the right side opened, people coming out and looking at me as I approached. "Well, well…" I saw an older gent in a sheriff's uniform walking out, looking around. "Looks like the rumors were true. Someone's been giving the Seeds a run for their money, and that the southwestern section of the county is now free of John Seed's influence." He extended a hand. "You the Angel of Death I keep hearing about?"

I grinned. "The Archangel Michael, at your service."

"Well, you're a sight for sore eyes, that's for sure and certain." His face looked troubled. "I hear you found the rookie, and I hear you had to put her down. I hope she didn't suffer."

"Trust me...she suffered plenty enough already." I didn't say anything about how the rookie was still alive, kept that way to perform some experiments, or about what John had in mind for her. He's probably got enough guilt to have to deal with. "What's the sitrep here?"

"Faith's troops have us on the ropes, and that's no lie." He led me inside, revealing a group of other people, who immediately left the jail to start scavenging from the peggies I'd sent to their Makers. "Every so often, she sends people to try to get inside, and not just regulars. Sometimes she sends Angels."

"Angels?"

"People who've overdosed on Bliss. Makes them into cattle, docile and hard-working slaves, hostile shock troops against non-peggies. For some reason, she prefers to make female Angels. We've got people researching ways to counteract the Bliss' effects, but the people who go outside the jail ain't in the habit of coming back."

I nodded. "Get me a list of the people out there and the trouble spots. I feel like doing some sightseeing." I looked around. "I'm surprised that you don't have more gas masks here. Sure as hell would've helped."

"They sure would have...if the Seeds hadn't confiscated and destroyed every gas mask they could get their hands on. Before this happened, the Seeds started a program where they offered money to people who were hard up, saying they knew people who would buy the masks for top dollar, and it wasn't like there was any imminent possibility of a gas attack…" he added with more than a little sarcasm. "By the time anybody realized what a mistake that was, there were MAYBE five gas masks left in the entire country...and asking people to share seemed counter-productive, if you catch my meaning,"

"Right. So these people are definitely in the 'insane, but not dumb' category. Tell me about Faith Seed."

"Which one?" I turned as a female voice spoke up. "There's been more than one. Rachel is just the latest one." She looked me over, as if deciding whether to be impressed or not. "Her real name is, or was, Rachel Jessop."

"Rachel Jessop, huh?" That name could give me more information. "When did she hook up with the Seeds?"

"She showed up a few years back, following along like a regular child of the ministry, until they started buying up property and guns. Back then, 'Faith Seed' was someone with black hair, and after her, a blonde. Joseph seems to be going through Faiths, but Rachel turned out to be a real self-starter for Joseph. She's in charge of keeping the Cult in a constant state of euphoria, and keeping them under control. Faith is also in charge of lying, manipulating and brainwashing. Don't get fooled by that girl-next-door look of hers."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks. The water filtration facility is going to need some divine intervention to start working again. What else can I do to hurt her operations?"

The Sheriff smiled. "I've got a map over here…"

* * *

When I left the jail, I had a whole collection of targets and local allies to contact and work with, and even some stashes of supplies to use to supplement what I already have.

Here I come, "Poison Ivy", ready or not.

* * *

ELAINE

Should've known that it wasn't going to be this easy.

I just got word that Jacob Seed has been tasked with taking back the territory John Seed lost, and to find out what happened to John. There's been more aerial attacks from helicopters, and the people that have gone out foraging for food are getting shot up. I've been racking my brain to try to find a solution, but the only two options that are coming up are...Hurk Drubman and his mother, Adelaide.

The very DEFINITION of "desperate times call for desperate measures".

Hurk was quite possibly dumber than three sheep, but he knew how to use weapons, and had access to a man portable SAM launcher. He'd be able to provide anti-air in additions to the mounted machineguns, as long as we can keep the trigger-happy nutjob from shooting any friendlies. His mother, Adelaide, is a part-time real estate agent, part-time helicopter pilot, full-time enemy of Joseph Seed. The problem is, the only too get her help is to liberate her helicopter, which happens to be armed to the top rotor, from the peggie bastard currently flying it.

I wonder if Rick is having to deal with doing favors for people in order to get their assistance. Whether he is or not, I'm going to need to bring him in on this. I don't know how to fly a helicopter and I don't know anyone who does.

I went to the radio. "Calling the Archangel Michael, come in, Mike. Need you to return to town ASAP. We've got a situation."

I waited for what seemed like far too long, then I heard him say simply, "I'm on my way. Get some sleep, it's late." I looked at the clock and realized I'd been up for almost twenty hours. I could wait until I got some sleep before dealing with more brainwashed psychos, right?

I went straight to bed and was out before my head hit the pillow.

I woke up to find myself in the middle of a morgue.

I was jolted awake when I felt a weight fall on my bed, and I saw a cultist fall on my bed, and considering he was wearing a new smile a few inches south of his old one, it didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon...and that the bed sheets were a total loss, as was the mattress. I looked up as my head cleared, seeing Rick there, standing over me. "Are you all right?" he asked.

I looked at the body of the cultist. "Holy...am I _all right?_ I may never have the hiccups AGAIN!" I scrambled out of bed, not even caring that Rick could see what I usually wore to bed. I like lace, sue me. "What in the _hell_ happened here? Why the fuck am I waking up to cultists in my bed?"

"Looks like they sent a team over here to kidnap a few people and Bliss them out." He wiped his combat knife on the body of the cultist in my room. "They apparently thought I wouldn't be around. These guys weren't the usual rank-and-file. These have been through some training."

"Jacob Seed, probably…" I started putting my clothes on. "What time is it?"

"Nine in the morning, give or take, why?"

"The reason why I called you back here. We need more air power, and Rye needs to get sleep and check in on a pregnant wife. We need more air support, and Adelaide Drubman has it. I need you to help me get it back."

"Drubman?" He pulled out a folded-up sheet of paper. "They're on my list. The Drubman family supposedly has access to vehicles, guns and ammo, not to mention some political ties."

I couldn't help it. I just broke into laughter, clutching my sides.

Rick just stared at me. "Something I should know?"

"The father is a racist asshole who wants to be a Senator. The mother is the only smart one in the bunch, and HURK...Hurk is just smart enough to be extremely dangerous with heavy ordnance. How the men of that family haven't killed themselves trying to cross a road is beyond the scope of human imagination." I started to calm down. "And the scariest part of all is we need their help."

"So I'll go get it."

"Uh-uh. I'm coming with you. That family knows me, and we need them on our good side. But they're unpredictable. And I bet there's other people on that list of yours, so you're going to need me. A lot of the people up here have a long history of doubting the federal government, which makes you their worst nightmare."

Rick didn't look happy, then nodded. "Fine. But I need you to back me up out in the field. Trust me, do what I say and remember that I'm not going to play nice with these peggies. You're going to see a side of me you're not going to like."

"You let _me_ worry about that. Just remember that you might end up seeing a side of me you haven't seen before, either." I smiled. "Trust ME."

Rick nodded. "Not exactly couples counseling, is it?"

"Rick, this may be the best couples counseling you can get out here. Now, what's the plan?"

Rick chuckled. "You ever used a wingsuit before, Lainey?"

Nope, but how hard could it be? "I can manage it."

"Maybe we better stick to parachutes. Get Nick on the line. We're going for a little night flight. And after we arrange that...let's see about getting you a gas mask."

* * *

RICK

Well, this was unexpected.

After getting Elaine set up with something approaching a stealth-effective ensemble (black close-fitting clothes with a bulletproof vest) as well as a set of goggles, she got to watch as I hooked up a simple release harness on the top of both lower wing. "We'll hook you up, you pull this latch, and you're away."

"Do you have to hook those things onto my baby?" Nick Rye complained.

"Sorry, but neither of us have fingers that strong, Nick." I lifted Elaine up and hooked her up, then went to the other wing, moving my position closer to the fuselage to even out the weight ratios. "Okay, Nick…let 'er rip!"

For all Nick's complaining, he got us into the air and heading towards the drop zone. He gained altitude quickly, giving us a peach of a view of Hope County. From up here, it was easy to forget the place was being overrun by psychopaths. Psychopaths with aircraft. Fortunately, I had better connections with DARPA than they did.

I had the .50 caliber gun at my hip, just in case someone decided to send the Red Baron up after Snoopy, here. And, to make sure, I had it loaded with EXACTO bullets. Somebody tries to interrupt us, I'm going to interrupt their entire existence.

Just when I was about to think this was starting out as a milk run, I heard Nick knock on the door. When I looked up, I saw him gesturing towards the back. I turned to see a P-51 Mustang coming in hard and fast, and I knew Nick wasn't going to be able to fight with two large weights attached to his wings.

I pulled out the pistol and aimed, making sure I was getting a good look at the pilot, then fired. Even with the shifting of the plane in the wind currents, the bullet found its mark, going through the pilot's skull and making a real mess inside the cockpit. The plane lost altitude quickly and I focused on making sure we dropped at the right place.

He hit the ground _long_ before we did.

Elaine walked over to me as I cut myself free of the parachute. "That was a pretty amazing shot."

"Not really." I pulled out the magazine, showing her the bullets. "EXACTO. I needed something that would definitely hit even under poor combat conditions."

"What's so special about them?"

I grinned. "Guided."

"You're shitting me."

"Nope. Tested the first-generation of these three years ago. A bullet that can turn corners. Just the thing for shooting down a plane while strapped to another plane."

"And here I was, all set to be impressed by your aim."

"Aw, SHUCKS, missy, 'tweren't nothin'."

"Cute. So, the marina is this way. It's probably got peggies everywhere, since it's one of the biggest docks in the county, as well as places where boats can be repaired. Things might get ugly, since there's likely some friendlies that might get caught in a crossfire."

"You leave the peggies to me. Just make sure the civilians are out of the lines of fire. And that goes DOUBLE for you."

"Gee, and I was so looking forward to having another hole in my lung…"

"You can be pretty sarcastic when you're scared, you know that?"

She glared at me. It was kind of cute, actually.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	6. Chapter 6

**FAR CRY 5, Part 6: Queen High**

 **By C. Mage**

.

.

RICK

The marina was surprisingly well-situated. It had road access and water access, and the docks were large enough to accomodate seaplanes as well as boats. There was a seaplane already docked, as well as two cult boats, each armed with a machinegun mounted on a cupola near the stern. Two other machineguns were mounted on the land, and we counted twelve peggies, including a couple of Joseph's lieutenants bossing around the "heathens".

Yeah. These guys needed to be out of here like yesteryear.

I turned to Elaine. Any sign that she might be hesitant about what was coming next were long gone. She looked ready. "I'm going to go wide, try to move in on their rear. As soon as they start aiming away from you, get in closer with that shotgun and get to cover before shooting at any targets of opportunity. Any questions?"

"No, but I got a request. Don't say, 'be careful'? I think I understand that part already."

"Yeah, I guess you do. I'm heading out. Get ready." I moved back into the forest, taking m time as I crept around, getting a closer look at the place from different angles. There were alarms set up, but I had clear lines of sight of the control boxes. One shot to each one from my silenced rifle, and they were cut off without being any the wiser.

That's when the claws came out.

I took out two of them from the west side, then placed some grenades under their bodies by laying the corpses face-down on the spoons. Then I backed up, moved to the east side of the marina, near what looked like a landing field for a helicopter, and waited for one of the wandering peggies to find the corpses.

Like clockwork, one of them saw the man, called for his buddies, then turned the body over to identify him right when four others came by to back him up. The first grenadelifted them into the air, dislodging the second body, which allowed the second grenade to finish off the ones who weren't too close. That's when the rest of the rats started running around, moving to the west side. I pulled out the knives as Elaine cut one of the peggies on the dock in half, then headed for one of the nearby buildings.

The gunboat started to move in to get a better look, and I rewarded them with a pair of grenades tossed into the boat itself. By the time they realized they were in trouble, it was already too late and they were fish food in a sinking ship. One of the prisoners cold-cocked one of the peggies and ran to one of the machineguns, swivelling it around and expressing herself without hesitation or mercy.

And that was all she wrote.

The prisoners came out of hiding as Elaine and I walked towards the woman at the machinegun. "Mrs. Adelaide Drubman, I presume?" I asked with a slight smile on my face. "Nice work, by the way."

"Thanks. Hooooo-EEE, but you're a piece of work. What's your name, handsome?"

"His name is 'Rick', Adelaide...and hands off. He's with me," Elaine added quickly.

"Isn't that always the way? All the good ones are taken." She chuckled. "Well, Rick...what can I do you for?"

* * *

ELAINE

Yeah, that wasn't surprising at all. Ever since the divorce, Adelaide Drubman has been going after men half her age. Now that ninety percent of the men are peggies, it sure narrows down the field.

"Actually, we wanted to know what we could do for you. We want to do everything we can to undermine Faith's control of this area, and the folks at the county jail seemed to think you had some ideas about that."

"You betcha. One of them is about getting my baby back. Some peggie bastard is now piloting her around, and I want her back. I got her fair-and-square in the divorce! You'd love her, too. Got some guns attached to it and flies like a dream."

"...I thought you were a realtor." Rick said, a little flatfooted. That didn't happen often, so it's always a treat to see it when it does.

"Do you know what the housing market is LIKE these days? A lady has to use every advantage she can get!"

"Right...I can get your realtor-approved ATTACK HELICOPTER back. Just let me know where to find this guy." Adeliade pulled him away, talking to him as if I didn't even exist. As Rick went to borrow one of the trucks the dead peggies didn't need anymore, Adelaide slapped him on the butt, then walked back over to me.

"You know what they say, Lainey, a hard man is good to find...and hon, that man's harder than a coffin nail."

"Gee, Missus Drubman, REALLY? Oh, GOLLY, I had no idea," I said in a sarcastic little-girl voice, then glared at her. "You mind not hitting on Rick in front of me? At least have the common decency to do it behind my back?"

"Lainey, you wound an old woman's heart."

"If ONLY. All right, what else can be done around here to throw a monkeywrench into the Seeds' little religion engine?"

"Well, that depends…" She's got a smile on her face I don't like.

"...on what?"

"Whether or not you consider yourself a 'cat person'..."

* * *

RICK

The peggies are getting sloppy. You'd think that, considering this is their primry source of maintaining the drug supply, they'd be trying to keep things buttoned up. But from what I've seen so far, Faith is running scared.

Then I remembered that Faith was a master manipulator. It's not outside the realm of possibility that she might be trying to make it LOOK that way. So stay focused, Rick. In this competition, gold medalists live, silver medalists tell no tales.

I found the guy who was piloting Adelaide's helicopter around. Wasn't hard to find the right one; Faith only had women piloting aircraft, so he tended to stand out. He was patrolling the area, probably looking for me, and moving from site to site to refuel and re-arm.

Figured I'd save him the trouble of looking for me. As he came in to speak to his ground crew, I noted that he looked really tired, worn-out, even. His buddies looked tired, too. So I moved in with my knives and put them all to sleep. Quietly.

As I congratulated myself on taking out the opposition, I soon realized that things were not that easy. Two of the peggies I put down started to get back UP! It was only by catching the movement out of the corner of my eye that I managed to escape a pretty brutal beating. Apparently, I've met my first "Angels".

Lucky me.

I switched to guns, putting one into the head of each one, watching them fall forward on their faces as they were rushing towards me, growling all the way. I watched them this time, and, sure enough, the growling started again and they started to get back up, even with bullets in their brains! I switched weapons just in time as they got up to be introduced to Mr. Mossberg.

BLAM, BLAM, out go the lights. Doesn't matter how juiced up you are on that Bliss crap, being beheaded WILL take the fight out of you, and triple-ought shot is messier than a guillotine, but just as effective.

I looked down at the Angels, shaking my head. I'm not just fighting people anymore, I'm fighting a frickin' DRUG. I thanked the Big Guy for thinking of wearing a face mask with a respirator, and not for the first time today.

I checked out the helicopter. I found a map with several Xs drawn on it. With any luck, this is the route that the pilot was taking, which meant those were the depots he was using to refuel and re-arm. Considering there were far too many for the support of one single aircraft, it was a safe bet they were being used to support other aircraft.

An evil smile crossed my face. Seeing as how I was wearing their colors anyways…

* * *

I managed to make it to the fourth out of seven before they caught on. And by then it was too late.

I'd come in high, so they could see me coming in using the same vectors as the previous pilot. The idiot didn't even change up their directions on approach. I used the radio to report to the depots that I'd spotted some people stealing one of "our" trucks and heading towards the depot. Then, while they were watching the roads, I began hovering, using the aautopilot to "maintain my position until the area was cleared", then used my rifle to clear the area from the air. Once they were dead, a well-placed shot would turn the depot into a fireball, and I just moved on to the next depot on the route at high speed.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

The fifth one had apparently been listening to the radio and noticed the pattern of depots going silent soon after I reported the "hostile force approaching". As soon as I got on the radio again, I saw the men on the ground moving, but not to vantage points to look at the road.

Ah, well. It was a boring conversation anyways.

I moved in closer, as if coming in for a landing, then re-oriented and sent a few rockets on ahead to "secure my LZ". The rockets hit the depot, decimating the troops and nearly sending the building that was overlooking the landing zone into the stratosphere.

I felt so much better, I turned the mike on and startled whistling the tune, "Whistle While You Work". Not only did I find it relaxing, but it helped with jamming that particular frequency. Sure, they could change to a different one, but you have to take a moment to enjoy the little experiences that make life liveable.

Now that the depots are expecting to be hit from the air, I'll return the chopper to Mrs. Drubman and take the last depots out on foot. I hope Lainey's having as much fun as I am.

* * *

ELAINE

This is not fun. I've HAD fun. This ISN'T IT.

If someone had told me a week ago that I would be hunting down a cougar named "Peaches" in order to lead her back to her cage, I would've advised them to change their meds. By increasing them. And yet, here I am, with a bag full of...cougar treats...looking for Peaches.

Of course, Peaches' current caretaker, Wilhelmina Mable, swears up and down that, while Peaches may be trouble, she won't hurt anyone feeding her treats. While she may know Peaches, I don't, and I'm not exactly secure walking around the wilderness with a bag of food.

Fortunately, I found Peaches...and she'd already eaten. I found the remains of three peggies that had encountered the cougar earlier, and it looks like, for Peaches, peggies are good eatin'. Okay...easy...just lead her back. I tossed some of the treats to get her attention. Wilhelmina turned out to be right, Peaches just followed along, and I led her back to her pen. My heart was hammering in my chest the entire time. I had no idea if she would suddenly decide she wanted dessert after chewing on those peggies, and if she wanted her dessert to be Lainey-flavored.

As it happened, Peaches really was the pussycat Wilhelmina said she was. I closed the gate and put the treats down. "There. I don't think you'll need to feed her soon; she decided to have peggies for lunch. I thought you said she was a sweetheart. Why'd she attack those peggies? You weren't starving her or anything, were you?"

"Don't be stupid. The Bliss those fools are putting into their bodies does something to their body odor, makes animals hostile. That's why they keep making those 'Judges'; the Judges are the only animals who won't run and eat them on sight." She lit up a cigarette and took a draw on it. "In fact, why don't you take Peaches with you. I think she's taking a shine to ya, and she can help you take down some of those peggie bastards. She's smart. Just toss a treat close to the target you want taken down and she'll do it, real quiet, too."

I looked down at the cougar, a hundred and fifty pounds worth of hunter's instinct and feline muscle, claws and teeth. "Are you sure?"

Wilhelmina walked over to the gate and opened it. "Come on out, girl. This here's Lainey. Now, you be a good girl and do what she says, and she'll make sure you got plenty to eat. You gonna listen to Lainey, now?"

Peaches turned her head to look at me, then padded over while I stood there, trying not to show how alarmed I was. Then she licked my hand and nuzzled me while I stared down at the feline. Wilhelmina was right!

Holy hells...I got me a freaking cruise missile. I reached down and scratched Peaches behind the ears, and a distinct rumbling could be heard from her belly. She was purring. I couldn't help but smile. I knew that Peaches and me were going to get along JUST fine.

Oh, I can't WAIT to see Rick's face the next time I see him. In fact, based on what I've been hearing on the radio, the F.A.N.G. Center could use some help, and it would be a good time to learn how to work with Peaches to make life more difficult for the Seeds.

Jacob Seed, someone is about to get his dick kicked.

* * *

RICK

"Here you go, Adelaide. Safe and sound. Apart from needing a repaint, a refuel and a reload, she's ready for action." I tossed her the keys.

"That she is, darlin', that she is." From the way Adelaide was smiling, I got the impression she wasn't talking the helicopter.

"Hate to deliver and run, but there's two depots left, and I want to make sure I've got the element of surprise. They're expecting death from above, so I figure I can get the drop on them by moving in at ground level. You got a radio here?"

"Sure do."

I gave her Nick Rye's frequency. "Stay in touch, coordinate to find every airstrip and landing field and wipe them off the map, together. Stay out of Jacob Seed's area for now. I'm on the verge of doing to Faith what I did to John, and we need to work together to keep the peggies at bay. If we can maintain air superiority, it'll severly impair their operations."

"You got it, sugar. Besides...I got some payback that needs doing."

"Good. Good luck out there." I headed out to finish off the last two depots. As I entered the forest, I realized that the depots were close to Jacob's territory. It wasn't that much of a stretch to think that Jacob wouldn't have much faith in, well, Faith to get the job done.

Which means that he'd likely want to send in more troops to keep the status quo, and Faith would likely tell him not to, to make sure that she takes care of me without help, proving her worth to the Seed Family.

And that is something I can use.

I took out one of the radios I'd taken from one of the peggie V.I.P.s, then said in a weak, hoarse tone, "I...found him...I'm bleeding out…he's heading northeast...the YES ruin…" I let a gurgle exit my lips, then toss the radio near the river.

Time for a little research.

* * *

Starting to appreciate Jacob Seed's efficiency. He sent in two trucks' worth of troops, all armed with assault rifles to the depot, but he sent two groups of four men, two ATVs each, to search the area to try and locate me. I didn't think I'd been that convincing, and Jacob definitely suspects a trap. He's right, just not the way he thinks.

I waited until Jacob's troops had secured the area, waiting for me to happen to them, the other patrols looking for me at the fringes. Meanwhile, I was safe, hidden away in a storm drain, watching the area using three remote cameras. I didn't keep them on, turning them on and off as needed. I figured Jacob would be searching for rogue signals, so I'd set the cameras to record remotely, send them to my receiver using encrypted burst transmissions,

I wasn't about to underestimate a man with Jacob's military record.

I spent the time hidden, reviewing Faith's record as well as Jacob's. I think I know where Faith's bunker would be located, but it wasn't going to be easy to get inside. It was another missile silo, officially decommissioned, unofficially loaded with captives, Angels and one Rachel Jessop, a.k.a. Faith Seed.

Time to make contact and hear the Siren's song.

I picked up my radio and started scanning frequencies, figuring that Faith would be talking with Jacob right about now. Didn't take long to pick up the conversation I wanted to hear.

"...searching the area now. If he's out there, we'll find them…'little sister'." Jacob Seed, natch.

"This is my responsibility. I'll take care of him. By now, he's had enough of the Bliss to be receptive, and I'll turn him. I just need to break him down." Faith Seed. She didn't sound so kindly at the moment. In fact, she sounded harsh...and nervous.

"You're running out of time. The Father will only tolerate your ineptitude...your WEAKNESS...only so much longer."

"You want me to fail, don't you?" she asked accusingly.

"You misunderstand me, and HIM. He defeated John, and that was no easy task. Don't underestimate him."

"It's BEING...HANDLED," she said angrily.

"Have a care, 'sister'. She's out there, too. Long-lost Lainey. Joseph's becoming rather interested in her, and if you're not careful, he's going to lose Faith in you, if you know what I mean."

"He won't," she said, but her confidence wasn't rock-solid. "He can't."

"You better be sure, Faith."

"I am sure. Now stop bothering me! I have things to do, and I'm done wasting time talking to you."

Looks like the sibling rivalry is over. I turned down the volume on the radio. I had a feeling I knew what Faith was talking about, in which case, I was sure I could get her cooperation. After all, she's playing a dangerous game, considering she's trying to influence someone whose secrets were bigger than hers.

Looks like the bulk of Jacob's forces were finally leaving. I recovered the cameras and receiver, then headed for the depot from the cliffside below. And I had the right tool for the job.

* * *

Two hours later, I had all the preparations completed, so I figured it was time to make a call. I pulled up Faith's frequency, then said, "I've got a riddle for you. What is it that comes after 'before'?"

A brief pause, then Faith's voice came on the radio. "Who is this?"

"EEEENNNNNNNNT! Sorry, but this isn't Jeopardy, the answer doesn't come in the form of a question. Come on, Faith, I know you've played this game before. I'll give you three more chances. You can either provide the right answer, or just say, 'I give up' and the answer will be provided. I'll repeat the question. What is it that comes after 'before'?"

"I'm not playing games with you, whoever you are."

"Really, Faith? That's your answer? Because you've been playing mind games with all kinds of people. Don't tell me you're quitting now. Two chances left, because that one was wrong. Now, remember, two options: the right answer, or the words, 'I give up'."

Faith's sigh could've been heard even without the radio. "Fine. I give up. What comes after 'before'?"

I held up the radio detonator. "C-four," I said dryly, then set off the explosives. Both of the remaining depots far away violently and immediately ceased to exist. "There you go. Sorry about the noise, but let's face it, the people you've got up there flying around have been way too loud. It's time for them to take a break."

"Do...do you have ANY idea what you've done?! How much trouble you've CAUSED?"

"No more so than the usual. Story of my life, actually. I'd love to tell you about it. In fact, when I come to see you, and do what I did to John, well…" I let the rest of the sentence hang there. "Be seeing you soon, Faith. Sooner than you think."

I clicked off the radio. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Faith. I know where you are now and I'm coming for you.

My, my, such hostile people out here. I moved in closer, picking out my targets carefully...then calling in Nick and Adelaide to properly carpet-bomb the place. Angels might be durable, but there's no substitute for owning the air, and every time one of them got close enough to one of the mounted weapons to give my partners any trouble, I air-conditioned their heads. Took a while; Faith's been waiting for me.

And I hate to disappoint a lady.

I checked my gear again. Gas mask in place, emergency rebreather in place, goggles on standby, enough knives to make the hero of V FOR VENDETTA jealous. I was ready, all right, and I moved into the missile silo like a poisonous gas.

And, as I expected, there was plenty of poison in here already. The silo was filled with enough Bliss to turn anyone from a normal human into a slavering slack-jaw in fifteen minutes. Fortunately, I was prepared. I probably sounded like Darth Vader, but I was prepared.

I was prepared for the Bliss and the troops. What I wasn't prepared for were the other people inside. It was like one huge group drug trip. Images of trees and flowers and even a jackalope were all over the walls, and some of the doors were painted up to look like ornate metal gates. With all the imagery in here, Faith could probably manufacure any illusion she wanted, and people hooked on the Bliss would practically deify her. This is probably how she got people to believe all that stuff about her.

All she needed to do was give them a guided tour of Faithland.

I crouched down and checked out the people inside. They looked higher than Voyager right now, but that didn't make them safe. You can turn your back on a person, but in the words of Hunter S. Thompson, you NEVER turn your back on a drug.

I took my time. As much as I wanted to make Faith lose her Happy Thoughts, I was on the clock.

* * *

FAITH SEED

I did NOT sign up for this!

I knew going in that this wasn't going to be easy. The Father took me away from my old life, but it didn't take me long to realize what he wanted. He thought he was God, and he wanted his "Mary".

I found out what happened to the previous Faiths. He wanted to create his very own Jesus, but the women he chose all had two things in common: either barren or unable to bear him the son he wanted. Probably didn't occur to him that God wasn't going to be very generous to a man who was essentially telling the Almighty, "You're in my seat."

The others weren't smart enough to know how to handle the Father. But I did. When I knew what he wanted, I believed...but I didn't FULLY believe. But I knew how to manipulate him, ease his loneliness, keep him at arm's length when his urges became too strong, showing fear, remorse and holiness in equal measures, using his guilt and his holier-than-everyone attitude to keep him interested, but not TOO interested.

But now...it's starting to unravel. The Father and my "brothers" are figuring out how to deal with this...SERPENT that's come to destroy everything. And honestly, I don't know if I want this serpent to fail. The Father is showing doubt in me. When my book was burned, he started to make the same arguments when it came time for Selena to be replaced.

I've managed to keep him with me so far, and I was ready to drop the pregnancy card, and tell the Father what he wants to hear, keep him interested until I can make good my escape, with enough gold and riches to start over….not to mention plenty of flowers to start a new crop somewhere else. This new talk about Lainey...NO. I did not come this far and get used by men all my life to let some new pretty face undo everything I've done.

All I have to do is wait. If he thinks he can come in here, he'll have to get through the Bliss. And by the time he gets to me...he'll be MINE.

Mind, body and SOUL.

I put on the angel-wings and walked out of the control room to look around at my domain. I'd already taken the antidote for the Bliss, so I controlled it instead of it controlling me. And it was time to make an appearance, to further imprint on them, so even when they were out doing what they had to do, they'd still imagine me nearby, giving orders. Suggestions played over the radio that they'd hear, then forget hearing.

It's the little things.

I smile as I come through the door, and say, "There is…!" I pause in my announcement when I realize there's no one in the hall. Odd. Usually there's people sprawled everywhere, breathing in the Bliss and…

A cold feeling comes over me and I head back to the control room, sealing myself in and making SURE all the doors are locked. I couldn't afford to take any chances. I had to be SURE. I waited until all the door lock lights on the console were green, and only THEN I would relax. The Angels would take care of him. There's NO WAY….

That's when I heard the words in my right ear. That's when my blood turned to ice.

"NOW...isn't it COZY in here….just the TWO of us…"

* * *

RICK

Well, SHE'S no fun at all. She fainted.

Let's make sure. I jabbed her in the arm with some sedative, then unlocked the doors after zip-tying her arms and legs to the chair. Then I started getting some fresh air into here.

As the air cycled, I went down to see if the Father had left any more surprises in the belly of this particular beast. Yep. The second nuke. I used the kill-code to disable it, then went back upstairs. Faith was still out cold. I detached her from the chair, tying her limbs again, then headed back upstairs.

Her room at "Arkham" was still waiting for her.

* * *

"Rise and shine! RIIIIIIISE an SHIIIIIIIIINE!" I banged on the bars until Faith woke up. John was still out, and I changed his IV bags already, so he wouldn't be doing much talking. Faith got to her feet, then looked around.

"Where...where am I…?" she asked groggily.

"THAT is an EXCELLENT question, 'Poison Ivy'. Don't bother asking 'Two-Face' in the cell next door for answers, he's not going to be waking up for a good, long while."

"What do you mean, 'Poison Ivy'?"

"That's what I'm calling you. Seeing as how I'm doing my 'Batman' impression, I figured you needed names that fit your actions. John, being the consummate liar, sadist and hypocrite, get's the name, 'Two-Face'. And seeing as how you cause so much trouble with your plants, that's why you get the 'Poison Ivy' sign on your door. I know you just woke up from being drugged, but with all the stuff you've pumped into your system, you should be used to it by now."

"Let me out of here! Right now!" She winced as the loud noises echoed in the room, affecting the headache that was now undoubtedly wreaking havoc on her senses.

"Now, now, Rachel...you don't want to wake up Two-Face too early, do you?" I smiled and sat in front of her cell door, looking at her through the bars. "Rachel Jessop. MY, but you've been a very naughty girl. The nasty part is, you believe JUST enough in the Father to know how to use it to your own ends, but you've been running a few sidelines, haven't you?" I pulled up the laptop. "I've got all your greatest hits. Embezzling. Theft. Drug smuggling. Murder."

"I've never killed anyone in my life!" she shrieked.

"No, you just brainwashed other people into doing your dirty work for you. And let's not forget your little affair with the Father. That is, if you can call what he does to you every other night 'an affair'."

She glared at me. "I had no choice," she said bitterly.

"You had plenty of choice. Don't try to play the wounded, helpless girl act on me. I'm not one of your brain-dead, brainwashed Angels. You think you hid things where people couldn't find them. Well, I found them. I also found the nuke your Father put under your control center. Same thing as he did with John's silo."

"That's quite a story...but I don't believe it."

"Really?" I tossed some photos into her cell between the bars. "An American nuke with the same fission signature as a Russian main nuke. Daddy's planning on jump-starting the apocalypse, and I'll bet ol' Jacob is using one of those as a footstool and doesn't even know it."

She looked at the pictures with growing horror. "What….NO. This is impossible! You're lying!"

"Awwwww...it's so ADORABLE that you think I care what you think." I stand up. "Two more cells to fill, one for your brother, 'Bane' and finally, one for your lover, 'the Joker'. Lots to do, lots to do."

"Wait…"

"Yeah?" I turned to look at her, to see her leaning on the cot in the cell, her skirt hiked up a little.

"Look...I can be of use to you. I can help you get to Jacob and the Father." She smiled, shifting her leg to let her skirt ride up higher on her thigh. "I can make it easier for you. You'll never get to them without my help...and if you let me out….I can be VERY...grateful."

I smiled back. "Rachel, if you think for one INSTANT that I'm eager to sample Joseph Seed's sloppy seconds, you must still be loopy from that drug I dosed you with."

Her face went from next-door-girl cute to hostile-harridan ugly in record time. "You BASTARD."

"Okay. Time for your nap." I raised the tranq gun.

"WAIT! I'M SORRY! DON'T….!"

There was a PFFFT! as a dart appeared in her thigh. She looked up at me, then passed out. I unlocked the cell, brought in the bed and the same setup I made for John Seed. I checked her vitals, then set up the IV drip to keep her sedated and docile, as well as nutrients to keep her from waking up due to hunger. "Rachel, you aren't sorry...not YET."

I closed the door and locked it, then hung up her sign. I rather liked it. "Poison Ivy". How appropriate.

Time to let "Bane" know that his calls to Faith are going to go unanswered for a while...a LONG while.

* * *

While sewing up the silo and making sure the levels above were destroyed, the hotline rang in the control center. I chuckled and picked up the phone, answering it a cheerful tone. "Happy Hills Mortuary, you stab 'em, we slab 'em. Please ask us about our special 'Project At Eden's Gate Group Discount'! Operatives are standing by."

"Who is this?!" came a gruff, commanding voice over the line.

"Well, I COULD be John Seed, except I'm not that sociopathic. I COULD be Faith Seed, but I'm not that manipulative. I COULD be Jacob Seed, but I'm not that psychotic. I COULD be Joseph Seed, but I'm not that deluded. Decisions, decisions...who are you supposed to be?"

"Where is Faith Seed?"

"Now, now, not polite to make demands when you haven't introduced yourself properly. Tell you what. You tell me your name, and I promise I'll tell you what happened to John and Faith."

The growl became much more pronounced. "THIS IS JACOB SEED."

"JAKE, buddy, you don't call, you don't write, I know you're probably busy turning innocent people into murder machines, but surely you can take a little time out for little ol' ME…"

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" he bellowed.

"Oh, right. Well, a promise is a promise. I took those two Seeds and I planted them in the ground. They got a little wiggly while I was doing that, but I was right after all about them. They're much more likeable people, DEEP DOWN." Silence. Well, I felt talkative. "Don't worry, Jake, because I have another promise for you. I promise I'll bury YOU right next to them."

"You can't stop what's coming, whoever you are. You can't even slow it down. The culling will begin anew, and the weak will be food for the strong."

"In that case, I'd like to offer some advice, Jacob. Start using barbeque sauce for body wash. I'll see you soon, pal. REAL soon." I hung up the phone, got a green light on the charges, then made my way up to get to the vantage point I'd set aside. I took a lot of effort, making it up that hill at speed after racing to get out of the silo before the peggies arrived. Wow. It looks like Jacob sent every peggie for two miles around the silo. I activated the first step, a recorded message from me to them through the PA system. "COME ON DOWN, YOU'RE THE NEXT EXCITING GUESTS ON 'THE SEEDS ARE WRONG'! COME AND GET ME….IF YOU THINK YOU GOT THE BALLS."

Oh, did that ever get their attention, Onward cannon fodder, rushing into war…wait. Looks like some of them aren't as dumb as they look. Only a fraction of the group is going in, about a third of them. The rest are fanning out, looking for me. Jacob must've actually trained them decently.

Problem is, they're not veterans...and veterans don't panic.

I began moving across their field of fire, firing off the weapons I'd picked off the dead peggies from the silo. A zip-tie for the trigger, wedge it with some rocks, and in the space of a few moments, I had them thinking there was an army out here, forcing them to take cover behind the silo's auxiliary buildings.

Then I set off the C-4.

The explosions ripped through the silo, contained within the concrete structure and turning the peggies that went down into chunky salsa. The ones above found out what it felt to be ground beef. Out of fifty men and women that came, less than ten were uninjured, seven were wounded, and the rest, grist for the mill.

I'd feel bad about all of this if it wasn't for the fact that the Seeds had made them this way to begin with, meat puppets being pulled by their strings. People can be reasoned with. Not these….things. This was war, and killing these peggies was putting them out of their misery. That's all.

I picked up my knives. Looks like I'm batting clean-up.

* * *

These were tougher than the usual conscripts. They actually used some sense of tactics and didn't panic too quickly when they realized I was still working in the area. In fact, one of them almost got the drop on me. He had a couple of wolves with him, Judges, from the look of them, and they were moving in after I'd revealed myself to some of the remaining peggies.

Sloppy. Sloppy work gets you killed.

Fortunately, I left a few party favors scattered around. I saw them coming towards me, moving to my right as if to get around them. When they changed course to follow me, the three of them started walking slowly towards me, likely savoring the kill.

Good. They ended up savoring the land mine first.

I dove backwards as the explosive turned both the judges and their keeper into puppy chow. My ears were ringing slightly, but I was okay, and the field of battle was cleared, at last. I took a few minutes to collect ammo and other useful items when I heard one of the peggies radios activate, and a very familar voice come on the line.

"Have you found the enemy?" came Jacob Seed's voice on the line. "Report!"

I walked over and picked up the radio. "SO...CLEARLY you don't know who I am, or you wouldn't have sent ONLY fifty people to kill me. But that's all right. I'm kinda shy." Keep him talking, keep him off-balance. Can't handle him the same way I handled the others, can't come right at this guy or I'll be turned into red PAINT. But I can draw him out, get him to make mistakes… "Look, I know that you're a busy guy, You've got things to do, murder, drugging people against their will, putting your affairs in order, I GET IT. It's okay," I say soothingly, as if to placate a child having a temper tantrum. "But I'll be nice. I'll let you know when I'm coming to visit, and then you get to join John and Faith. I'll even bring flowers."

"You can't even BEGIN to understand what it means to have to do what needs to be done. The weak must be culled. All you've done is purify my army by getting rid of the weak."

"I think you're the one having trouble understanding. You see, to me….YOU'RE ALL WEAK. You ESPECIALLY, Seed. Now I'm the one doing the culling...and it's not looking good for you." I switched off the radio and tossed it to one side.

The ingredients were assembled...now it was time to let Jacob Seed stew for a while…

* * *

ELAINE

I was an ass-kicking nature goddess.

First Boomer, than Peaches. Now I was in the presence of the infamous Cheeseburger, the biggest grizzly bear I've ever seen, and they were all following along with me as if they were pets. Collars and all. And they were just the SWEETEST animals I've ever met. As long as I keep them fed, of course.

Which brings us to my current task, cleaning up the area.

We've been scouring the eastern side of the county, checking out the outposts set aside by the Seeds, doing everything we can to ride roughtshod over them. Got the news from Rick that Faith Seed has been taken off the list, which means her minions are in disarray.

Which means that it's feeding time.

Boomer was good for attracting attention and relieving the peggies of their weapons. Peaches was a mistress of stealth kills. And Cheeseburger, well, he's a wrecking ball with fur and fangs. He's great for any problem requiring a fuzzy freight train. I make sure to take shots at the peggies first, utilizing Peaches and Boomer to pick off the stragglers and attack from behind, and keep Cheeseburger close in case I get rushed by Angels or Judges.

I had a perfect strike team. Rick, eat your heart out. You can keep your guns and toys; I've got the A-Team working with me. "A" for "Animal."

Burton's been racking up vehicular kills like there's no tomorrow. Any planes that try to get into the recovered areas of the county have to deal with Nick and Adelaide, and they've been on fire since Rick "liberated" some of the airfields. I didn't think it would be possible...but we're taking our county back from the peggies.

I stopped by the county jail to see how the Sheriff and the others were getting on, only to find that the place was under siege! The peggies were attacking in force, it was complete CHAOS!

But there was one piece of good news about this chaos...nobody was looking AWAY from the jail. "SIC 'em," I said, and my team went after the stragglers on the outside, working their way towards the center. I lifted my assault rifle.

Can't let THEM have all the fun.

Cheeseburger and Boomer went right, pursuing the Angels, while Peaches and I made our way left. We pushed through and made our way to the back. We split up there, Peaches going around to the other side to trap the peggies outside between her and Boomer and Cheeseburger. I climbed up, then used a line to move from the wall to the interior buildings. I made it inside to see the peggies had used the Marshall as a sleeper agent to unlock the doors.

Wow, I'm even starting to talk like Rick now. Or maybe it's just all the James Bond movies.

I looked around, finding that DIE HARD really did have it right; using the vents to get around can be handy. Took me far too long to figure out how to get into the control room, though, and I was sweating bullets the whole time. Found one guy in the control room, coordinating the invasion, cheering and gloating every time one of the regular people were killed.

I emptied a half-clip into his back. He wasn't so cheerful now.

I went to the door controls. My team had finished with the people outside, so I let the doors open wide for them and made sure to guide them towards the main block. As the peggies pushed the survivors into the cells, one of them called up, "Close the doors on these sinners!"

"You got it," I said with a smile, locking the cell doors and unlocking the doors for Boomer, Peaches and Cheeseburger. "Now opening the Mess Hall."

The peggies down below, six of them, looked up at the control room. I smiled and waved. As soon as they saw me, they did exactly what I hoped they would, focus on shooting at me. Good thing the control room was shielded with bulletproof plexiglass. The problem was, while they were looking up at me, they were looking away from the open door.

In less than two minutes, the Mess Hall looked at its messiest, There was blood and gore all over the place, and the animals were looking VERY satisfied with their work. Maybe it was that, or they were looking at the humans in their cages.

Time to clean up the mess.

* * *

"You sure are a sight for sore eyes, Lainey." The Sheriff shook his head. "But you got some really weird ideas about who you pick to watch your back."

I grinned, putting my right arm around Cheeseburger's neck as I crouched, then skritched behind Peaches' ears. "What can I say? I got a way with animals."

"I figger with them, you could get away with PLENTY. You heard the news?"

"Faith Seed has left the building. Halle-freaking-LUJIAH." At that moment, I realized just how much I was missing Rick. "You hear from our friendly-neighborhood archangel lately?"

"He's been going radio silent, except recently. Jacob Seed got all riled up, sent about four dozen people after him. Guess how THAT went." The Sheriff walked out to the guard tower overlooking the front of the jail. "It's amazing that there's any peggies LEFT after what's been going on around here. There's going to be a lot of empty houses ripe for sale once all this has settled down."

"Dibs on John Seed's ranch," I said with a chuckle, not being serious.

"Lainey, your boy comes through, and you can have any and every property you WANT. You two EARNED them." He looked around. "You need a ride back to town?"

"No thanks. Me and my friends will head back on our own. See if we can't pick up some food along the way. More for them than me, you understand."

"Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot of people around here who are going to be plenty happy when your 'friends' are gone."

"Right. Welcome worn out." I whistle as I head out front to the main gate. "Boomer, Cheeseburger, Peaches! We are leaving!" I walked through the gates, the animals moving to my sides. Now I know how Grizzly Adams felt.

I wonder if Cheeseburger and Peaches are housebroken…

* * *

RICK

I'm really worried about Elaine. I'm heading back to town; I can't keep doing this, pushing and pushing without getting any rest. If I'm going to be going after Jacob Seed, I need a clear head. I need to sleep.

Most of all, I need to make sure Elaine's all right.

The longer I'm away from her, the more I start to miss the little things. The way she curls up on the couch in sweats. The little laugh she makes when she wants to laugh at something inappropriate. The way she looks when she wakes up in the morning and she's trying not to let me have it with her morning breath. The way she bounces around and dances to music when she's trying to get my attention. The way she expresses herself when I try to cook and fail miserably.

….holy mudder of peanut butter.

I'm in LOVE with her. I mean, I knew I liked being around her, and we have fun together, and...great. We've been together long enough that she's learned what I do for a living, but she hasn't figured out that she's supposed to be angry with me for being a government troubleshooter and for having a job where I kill people…

Dammit! The Seeds COMPLETELY ruined my operational procedures! Now I'm in love with her...and now I'm going to find out if she feels the same way about me...or not.

I began to wonder if maybe it wouldn't be safer to just go after Jacob Seed right now.

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	7. Chapter 7

Far Cry 5: The House Of Cards, Part 7 - All Or Nothing

By C. Mage

.

.

RICK

Two psychopaths down, two to go...and the next one was going to be a killer.

LITERALLY.

Jacob Seed was a warrior, a soldier, Several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Something happened to him on one of those tours, because after his last tour, he was diagnosed with PTSD. I can only imagine what happened, but he was discharged, and all the skills and medals counted for precisely nothing. He ended up like most veterans with no family; homeless and desperate...until Joseph and John came along.

John was formidable, but he was more talk than action. Faith was smart, manipulative, but she only had power over people who had the Bliss in them. JACOB….this guy was the real deal. He'd been in intense combat, had experience with guerilla warfare, had real training and real experience.

I couldn't handle him like I could the others. The usual song-and-dance won't work on him, so let's talk strategy. His peggies may be armed, but they're not an army. He would've given people with military experience higher ranks, since they'd be the ones in charge. And they'd be in charge of hard targets.

I smiled. I knew EXACTLY what to do. But it was going to be tricky, and I was going to need some help, help from other people with military backgrounds.

Right now, I needed time, rest, food...and no more surprises.

"HOLY CREEPING MOSES IN A CHARIOT-DRIVEN SIDECAR!"

"Now, Rick, calm down," Elaine said with a mischievous smile.

"CALM…!" I yelled again, then realized that yelling in front of a grizzly bear, a mountain lion and a dog might not be the wisest strategy to take. "Elaine…" I asked in a more normal tone, "...why do you have two wild animals following you around like they're pets?"

"They're friends of mine. This one's Peaches...and this ol' teddy bear is Cheeseburger." She gave Cheeseburger a big hug, and Cheeseburger rumbled happily, at least, I hoped it was happy and not hungry.

"Elaine, a grizzly bear is one of the most dangerous land predators on the planet and you're playing around with him like he's a stuffed animal…"

"He's fine. Just gotta keep him away from cheeseburgers. For his health, you know."

"Then what have you been feeding them?"

Elaine grinned at me. "Peggies, mostly."

"Ewww….it's a wonder they're not sick, giving them tainted meat like that…" I stopped. "Elaine...how much cattle is left in the county?"

"Well, you freed up most of the farms, and almost all of the previous owners were peggies, so….I figure about two hundred head of cattle, a quarter of them bulls." Elaine looked at me, cocking her head to the right slightly. "You planning on serving steaks?"

"After a fashion." I sighed. "But first, I need to get some sleep. I'm frickin' EXHAUSTED."

"Yeah, I hear you been busy. In fact, I can hear you when you'rre busy from all the way on this end of the COUNTY. Joseph Seed's Statue Of Insanity, the YES sign...Burton's getting jealous."

"Goody for him. I'm heading for bed. Wake me if Jacob Seed comes looking for me."

"I'm going to stay up for a while, read over those files you've got on the Seeds."

"Why? Ran out of books by Stephen King?"

"Go. Sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

I woke up expecting to find three pairs of animal eyes watching me, but when I awoke, the only other living being in the room was Elaine...and she smelled WONDERFUL. I snuggled against her back. "Good morning, sexy…"

That's when she turned on the bed and I, for just a few seconds, I thought I saw Faith's face. I kept it together without any knee-jerk reactions for a few seconds, and by then, my eyes were no longer fucking with me and I saw Elaine's face instead. "Are you all right?" she asked, then blushed. "I don't have morning breath, do I?"

"Don't worry about it…" That's for me and my psyche to work out. "...where's the menagerie?"

"Boomer's in his doggie bed, the others are sleeping outside. They may be friendly, but they're still not tame, not really." Elaine propped herself up on one elbow. "The fact they get along with you so well says something."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure what." I got to my feet. "I think I've figured out what we need to do. Jacob's been augmenting his troops with those animals of his, the 'Judges'. They need to get whittled down something fierce, which means hitting where he makes them."

"You'll have to check out the F.A.N.G. Center. Dutch's niece, Jess, went missing a week before we arrived, and she disappeared in the direction of the F.A.N.G. Center. I hear she's phenomenal with a bow."

I nodded. "Any parting words before I head off to give Jacob Seed a serious spanking?"

"Yeah. Don't get killed."

"Killed? That's the LAST thing I'd ever do." I grinned.

"Don't quit your day job, Dangerfield." She pushed me away, but she wasn't too forceful about it.

* * *

Getting there was almost half the fun.

Nick was nice enough to get me into the air and drop me at an altitude high enough so I could wingsuit in, then parachute to a safer altitude. The mist of the Bliss was almost everywhere now, and I'd heard stories about Jacob's followers coating their ammunition in Bliss in order to take out people with gas masks, like myself.

As I got closer to the F.A.N.G. Center from the north, I heard Jacob Seed on the unencrypted channel on my radio: "There is someone out there, pretending to be a soldier. They are killing our brothers and sisters and putting this Project in jeopardy. I want this coward to know that they have my attention. My hunters are coming for you. There's is nowhere you can run."

There was a pause, then Dutch's voice comes on the line. "You better keep your head on a swivel. Jacob is going to be sending his best Chosen to capture you."

"Don't worry. I will." His best, huh? Let's put that to the test. First things first, securing the F.A.N.G. Center.

I moved in from the north side, using the hill's elevation to get a look at the resistance. Nine guys, no Angels, but there were two people clearly giving the orders. They also had alarms set up, an ongoing theme with these peggies. They set up alarms so that, if anyone spotted trouble, they could hit the panic button and call for reinforcements.

I smiled. They couldn't have made it easier for me if they tried.

I secured the entry points where reinforcements would likely arrive using mines and claymores around the Center. Then I used the rifle to malfunction two of the three alarms, all without so much as a whisper. It gave me time to check out the area for possible captives. I found one in a cage, a young woman. That must've been Jess Black. No indication on how much Bliss she'd been subjected to, so I chose not to reveal myself to her just yet. Normally it takes a few weeks to have any success with brainwashing techniques, but from what I'd seen, Bliss sure sped up the timetable.

The first two peggies to go were the snipers. Their bodies were high enough so they wouldn't be missed immediately. I used a few stray shots to draw out a few stragglers to isolated area, then used my knife to silence them, drawing their bodies away from the camp. Five down. I capped one of the VIPs with a well-placed shot just between his shoulder blades, then I aimed at one of the other peggies, deliberately missing him, but hitting a metal panel, so I could get his attention.

He turned, took one look at me and ran for the nearest alarm. The yells he gave brought the other VIP into sight, and I dropped him like a bad habit. The last one of them saw what happened, hit the alarm, and dropped where he stood as I put a bullet through him into the alarm box.

I immediately moved to my next vantage point, on the ridge near one of the main entry points, and waited. I didn't have to wait long; two trucks and two ATVs came running, all from different directions. They probably thought they'd surround and overwhelm me with superior firepower. Of course, that firepower is only good if it actually makes it to the field of battle.

And, unbeknownst to them, I extended the boundaries of the field out a few extra feet. I was rewarded by the sounds of vehicle gas tanks being ignited by mines and claymores. One of them actually managed to clear twelve feet before turning over and landing on its back, gouts of flame pushed out from the inside.

I figured "Bane" would hedge his bets after all the damage that I'd done, so I figured he'd send reinforcements for his reinforcements….guys with silent weapons loaded with Bliss-laced ammo. I moved to one of the empty storage barels they used for storing Bliss, shed my jumpsuit, revealing the civvies underneath, dumped everything into the barrel and locked myself into one of the cages, putting the key in the sole of my shoe. I did keep one item, though...the silenced pistol, hiding it under my body.

My disguise nearly complete, I curled up, popped open a pint bag of blood I'd borrowed from the clinic in Fall's End, poured it all over myself and the floor of the cell, then played dead. Less than a minute later, I heard soft footsteps coming, slow and even. They were trying so hard to be quiet, it was really cute. They probably sounded quiet to THEM, but to me, they sounded like a freaking marching band.

If Jess really was working wth them, she'd give me up, so I had to make sure. Risky as hell, yeah, but that's why I get paid the big bucks. Well, they're big to me. I counted silently as they looked around. I'd reached a hundred count and Jess still hadn't spoken a word, so she was on the level, as far as I could tell.

One of them reached to his belt and lifted it up. "There's no one here...nothing but corpses and the Huntress. Do you want us to bring her in?"

"Yes. I have plans for her. I want her broken. We can use her against the others." Jacob sounded concerned. Good. "Contact me again when you're on the road and bringing her to the bunker."

"Yes, Jacob," he replied almost reverently, then put the radio back on his belt. "I'm calling in Robert with the flatbed. We're taking her back with us." He switched frequencies and begin to issue commands as the men got to work pulling Jess' cage closer to the road. They made a lot of noise. "And hurry. Feels too exposed out here."

I allowed one of them to notice the empty cage I had left behind while they were wrestling with Jess' cage. He turned and almost let the others know. By the time the others realized that one of their number wasn't too responsive. they were also suffering the same condition. Pinpoint sudden impact trauma.

I released Jess from her cage and tossed her a spool of fishing line. "No questions. Just work with me, here." She looked at me, then nodded.

* * *

ROBERT

Everything is so much...simpler now.

Before the Project At Eden's Gate, I so much trouble, with problems coming at every turn. I had nowhere to go, no one to rely on, until John Seed showed me the Power Of Yes...and all my troubles just seemed to vanish. It was nothing short of a miracle. And now, with Joseph leading the way, I feel liike there's not troubles anymore.

All I have to do is say 'yes'.

I only have one trouble in my life now...and that's all the people who won't accept the gift that Joseph offers. They're just….they're just STUPID. They won't accept the TRUTH. And for that, they deserve what's coming to them. But I wish it wasn't like that. I wish they would all just listen to Joseph.

I see my brothers waiting there for me as I stop the vehicle. One of them waves at me and I get out of the truck and walk towards them, waving in return. "I heard you have a…"

ow

* * *

RICK

"Nice shot with the bow there. No wonder they call you 'the Huntress'." I walked over to Robert. "Nothing like a classic," I added as I saw him lying on his front, an arrow going into his left ear and coming out his right. Although I'm sure this version of the old gag wouldn't make Steve Martin feel good.

"I got a bone to pick with those fuckin' peggies...after I get a meal and some water in me."

"If you're going to do that, better take one of these." I handed Jess one of the pills the Seeds have been using to keep from "getting high on their own supply." "It's a vaccine against the Bliss, but it lasts for about a week."

"So no more hallucinations? FUCKIN' A." She grabbed a bottled water from the truck and swallowed the pills, drinking down the whole liter bottle. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to ruin Jacob Seed's whole century. But to do that, I need to make him think he's safer than he is. Think you can do some Judge hunting? Just Judges, no peggies?"

"Sure. They ain't good eatin', but they're good for target practice."

"Good. I'm planning a surprise for Jacob, but I need any animals he's got under his control taken out, as many as possible. Can you make that happen?"

Jess smiled, and it was a smile that made miss her resting-bitch face. "Can you make a shoe smell? You just leave it to me...as long as you make sure Jacob Seed feels like he's been ass-invaded by a bear."

"That's….descriptive. I'll keep that in mind…" Whether I want to or not… I added mentally as Jess took off into the woods and...holy creeping MOSES.

She just VANISHED. She went twenty feet into the forest and completely disappeared.

Reminder to self: when all this is over, RECRUIT HER.

* * *

ELAINE

Herding cattle is SO much easier when you have a dog…and a cougar…and a grizzly. We've managed to get the cattle to move, cows and bulls, into temporary corrals while combining the smaller herds into one bigger herd. We've been migrating them in smaller numbers to avoid drawing the attention of the Seeds' aerial marionettes, using peggie clothing to make it look like we're all one big happy Manson family.

As I studied the terrain, I began to get an idea about what Rick had in mind. And it was pretty clever, if he could pull it off.

We had to work as fast as we could, without looking like we were trying to hurry. All we could do was hope that Rick was doing what he does best.

I had to admit, I was seeing a lot of what Rick does for a living, and I can see why he might think that telling me about it might make a girl a little squirrelly. "Well, I get up in the morning, go into work, and before I clock out for the day, a couple of countries have to redraw their maps. Want to have Thai for dinner tonight?"

And yet...he's just what we need. At the risk of quoting a superhero movie, he's not the hero Hope County deserves, but he's the one Hope County needs. And no, before you ask, I have NO intention of doing any Batman-Catwoman roleplay while we're dating.

Gotta save something for the honeymoon…

* * *

RICK

Gotta hand it to Grace and the Huntress; the hit-and-run campaign is paying dividends. His training may be turning the peggies into soldiers, but the problem with basing their belief system on drugs and brainwashing tends to erode the higher brain functions required for abstract thinking. Plus, the problem with Jacob's techniques is that he's not creating true soldiers; he's creating kamikaze pilots without planes. They're so willing to toss aside self-preservation, dulling any edge they might've had with proper training.

Dying for what you believe in might be noble, but surviving for what you believe in is more useful. Survivors win. Martyrs decompose. There's a reason why the US lost against the Viet Cong and why the Russians failed in Afghanistan.

The natives wanted to win more.

Jacob Seed was losing, badly. Every outpost he lost was calculated to be hit at the same time two of his other resources were being hit. Thanks to Adelaide Drubman and Nick Rye, I had air support, and thanks to meeting Hurk, I also had SAM support. And Hurk was more than happy to shoot his load at any peggie aircraft that dared to fly over.

It wouldn't be long before we owned the air completely.

Sounds like it's about time to rattle Bane's cage. I picked up the radio and double-clicked the SEND button, then said dryly. "Well, well, Jacob Seed. I haven't heard much from you lately, and I was worried you might be getting lonely, maybe even envious. After all, with your troops being sent to meet God ahead of you by the dozens, I'm sure you're wanting to know when it'll be your turn. Well, Jacob, I'm here to tell you that I've got some distressing news for you. When you get to finally meet the 'god' you serve, the waiting room for his office is going to have no A/C there. Ever."

"What you do means NOTHING. When your body lies upon the rocks, your corpse cooling as your blood flows away, your last thoughts will be of your folly...and your failure." Jacob's voice was even, but I could tell he was feeling the pressure. John failed, Faith failed, and now Joseph was relying on Jacob to stop what was going on. I was in it, now. It was a race to keep Joseph from deciding that today was Judgment Day and setting off the remaining nuke.

I needed to speak with Huntley.

* * *

I radioed the others on the encrypted frequency to keep plinking away at the peggies, and to not let up, but to take no unnecessary risks doing so. There's already been enough martyrs for the cause, "it seemed like a good idea at the time".

I took the ATV back to one of the secure bunkers I'd outfitted with the encrypted signal to Huntley and gave him a call. "Huntley, this is Ace. Over."

I was surprised to hear Huntey reply almost immediately. "Been waiting for your call, Ace. What's the sitrep?"

"Two Seeds planted, two to go. How's Operation: Gate Lock going?"

"We've managed to identify and round up the peggies that were out in the field. Apparently John Seed, may he spend the next eternity or two at Hell's BBQ, has been taking some day trips outside of Hope County. He's been meeting with people working in Washington and the United Nations, holding his little revival meetings and Blissing them into becoming his own personal black ops division. One has to admire how smoothly the little traitor started turning God-fearing men and women into people willing to subvert the very oaths they swore to protect. Makes my flesh crawl."

"Good. How's the disinformation campaign?"

"Running like Air America. We've got a whole studio devoted to providing the kind of news the Seeds are expecting to get from a world going into the crapper, pardon my French. Relations with other countries are improving, now that we've pulled the compromised diplomats off the stage, and the military officers that would otherwise tell the President to nuke everyone until they glow in the dark have been 'retired'. We've cracked the outside elements like walnuts and we're making sure none of those peggies can cause any more trouble. The world may end up getting burned to a radioactive cinder...but it won't be because of Joseph Seed."

"Don't count him out just yet. I've still got one nuke left to disable. He may not be able to start his beloved Collapse, but he can still turn this place into a barren wasteland if he sets that thing off, and a lot of people are going to die if that happens. And I'm not going to let that happen."

There's a brief silence and I was starting to wonder if we'd lost signal, then I hear him again. "DAMMIT, Ace, where the Hell did they find you and are there more of you? If I could get six more like you on my team, Russia would be the 51st state in a freaking WEEK."

"Sorry, but after they made me, they blew up the mold." I grinned. "Failsafe."

"Ace, if there was a chance everything about this wasn't classified to hell and back, you'd have more medals than a Christmas tree has ornaments."

"Just doing my duty for my country, sir. That's reward enough." Well, that and making sure the girl I'm crazy about doesn't end up unintentionally re-enacting the nightmare scene Sarah Connors had in TERMINATOR 2.

"...god-DAMMIT, Ace. You sure know how to sweet-talk a patriot. Get back to me when the third nuke is history."

I nodded, reassured that we were slowly moving back from the brink of insanity and global thermonuclear war, I figured it was almost time to have a little chat with Jacob Seed. I checked my gear, then headed north. It was about time to put Operation: Power Steering into action.

And that meant drawing him out of his missile silo.

Elaine, wherever you are, I hope you're ready...I'm counting on you.

* * *

ELAINE

Storm clouds are showing up. If any of Jacobs Seed's planes are in the air, they'll be grounded soon, or risk getting blown out of the sky. There's some rain, but it'll be getting stronger, soon. I can smell it in the air.

It wasn't easy, moving this much cattle, especially with how the Seeds have restricted the main roads, but Jacob's too worked up about dealing with worse weatther...to be specific, "Hurricane Rick". Jacob's been so pissed about his troops getting their collective asses handed to them by one guy, he's practically throwing peggies at where he thinks Rick is, and all they're finding are the booby traps he's left behind.

I'd feel sorry for Jacob Seed...if I didn't actually know better.

Getting this cattlle uphill is slow, but we're almost in position.

* * *

JACOB SEED

I must have faith in the Father.

He has foretold everything that has come to pass. We knew that there would be trouble. We knew that, if the weak were not culled, they would infest and destroy us. I learned my lessons in the desert, as Moses was cleaned in the wastelands after being cast out of Egypt. It had to happen, as this has to happen.

The Father's will is absolute. He will lead us. It's my purpose to give him fighters worth leading.

I hear the radio come to life as I hear The Intruder's voice. "Put on some coffee and put out the welcome mat, Jacob. I'm coming for you right now, and you don't have enough of your Cub Scout Army to stop me."

I smiled. It was time to surprise HIM. I activated the intercom and opened the doors. My elite forces were waiting for him. The others he had killed? The weakest of them. My main army was ready, waiting in secret to surge forth and destroy him. He will be OBLITERATED, and that will destroy any Resistance left. Vengeance will be MINE. "My men. My women. My soldiers. With you, Eden's Gate will be opened. All that is left is to destroy the last barbarian...the man that foolishly defends the weak. You know where you must go. You know what you must do. Go forth...and show him what happens to those who resist!"

I hear the yells and rage of my soldiers, the stomping of feet as they exit the silo...and it is good.

No. MORE than "good".

RIGHTEOUS.

* * *

RICK

Here they come. Ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, seventy, eighty, a hundred, and still they keep coming. Before the numbers started to thin, I counted over two hundred of them, all spreading out to cover as much ground as they can, with complementary fields of fire.

I have to admit, going in by myself, I'd be plenty damned worried. True, I'd be able to do a lot of damage, but I wouldn't have been able to win, at least not without the kind of damage I wouldn't be able to recover from in time for Jacob to come out and finish me off.

Of course, if Jacob thinks that I would come out to get him without a plan first, he has clearly not been keeping up on current events.

I pick up the radio and say, simply, "Now."

* * *

JACOB SEED

I watch the impending carnage from the control room. Every avenue has been inspected and documented, so no matter what direction he comes from, there will be no surprises. I'm almost looking forward to what kind of tactics the Aggressor will use that…

Wait...there's something...odd. I can't put my finger on it, but it's...no, it's just my imagination. I place the palms of my hands on the console in the command center. Nothing. It's my nerves. I may need to take the antidote sooner than I thought…

That's when I feel it. The smallest of vibrations. It varies in strength, but it's constant. This can't be possible...an earthquake? There's no fault lines here, but whatever it is, it's getting stronger.

No. Not stronger.

CLOSER.

I turn on the cameras again, but none of them are operational. The rumbling is getting louder…

...NO. NOOOO!

I run up the stairs to the door to the bunker and open it to hear yelling, gunfire...and hoofbeats. THOUSANDS OF HOOFBEATS. I moved further away from the doors to see cattle rumbling across my vision, moving from right to left, TRAMPLING my troops! Some of them have enough presence of mind to overcome their fear and confusion to shoot back, but they are only able to kill one or two cows before the rest of the cattle run them down, their hooves pounding my troops into lumps of broken meat.

Then I hear the bunker door behind me close. I spin around to see a stranger there, leaning back against the closed door. A familiar voice comes from his lips. "I always thought what you and the other Seeds were selling was hard to accept...you could even say that it was a LOT of BULL." He grinned as I drew my K-Bar. Here he was, the man who thought he could stop the Seeds.

All he'd done was come to his DEATH.

I didn't say anything, I just moved in on him. He was ready, though, with a double-edged blade in his right hand. I slashed three times, two across and one up to see how well he could fight, to see if he would dodge or block. As I finished the third slash, I felt a warmth on mi right side and I backed up, touching my right side with my left hand and feeling wetness there.

"You're gonna find that I'm going to be a little harder to kill than your buddy, Miller. Tell me, Jacob….how did Br'er Army Buddy taste?" He moved to the sides, circling me, continually moving. "Is it true that people taste like pork? I would've asked your boy, 'The Cook', about that, but when I last saw him, he'd gone all to pieces...but then, that's what normally happens when you carry a flamethrower and it develops a small leak…"

I moved forward, putting in a pair of thrusts after slashing at him, hoping to trap him against a wall or an obstacle, but the bastard wouldn't be pinned down!

"You know, Eli told me all about you. You two used to be friends, even worked together, building all those bunkers. He ever tell you how much he REGRETS that? What's it take to screw over a pal like that?"

"He was weak! He deserves to be culled! The weak have led the strong for too long!"

"First Corinthians, chapter one, verse twenty-seven: 'But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong'." He looked at me, and his expression made me want to cut that look from his face! "Comes from the Bible, maybe you've heard of it?"

"You don't know what you're talking about! The Father guides us! God told him what was needed, that the weak needed to be culled!"

"Ezekiel chapter thirty-four, verse sixteen. 'I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice'. Sounds like the Father isn't reading from God's playbook as much as he says he is."

"You don't have the RIGHT to even speak his name!" This...THING needs to die! I move forward to try to get him into a corner, slashing furiously.

"Wow, looks like SOMEONE has a sore spot." He moved low and to the right, getting around me...but he made a mistake, His back is to the door of the bunker, and I can easily trap him there!

"THIS is OVER, whoever you are!" I moved in closer, slowly, to make sure he can't escape.

"For once, 'Bane', we agree on something."

That's when I felt the pain in my back….and everything went black.

* * *

RICK

I looked over at Elaine as she walked over with the tranq gun. "Took you long enough. I've been stalling that guy for too long as it was."

"Bitch, moan, complain…" she chuckled as she stood over Jacob Seed. "Is he out for good?"

"No, just for a couple of days. There was enough sedative in that dart to knock out Peaches for a week. Keep an eye on him, keep people from slitting his throat while he's down?"

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Not much...just stop World War Three."

This time, Elaine came with me as I brought Jacob Seed to his new home-away-from-silo. I dumped him on the gurney in his cell, strapped him down just short of tight enough to cause circulation problems, fitted him with an IV and a slow tranq drip and checked his straps again.

"So this is where they are...why keep them alive?"

"Didn't want to make martyrs of them, at least not yet. The more ambiguous their fates, the less dedicated the peggies would be toward getting their revenge. Wanted to soften them up, not the opposite."

"Cute names." Elaine looked over at Faith. "She looks pretty vulnerable there. She didn't try to seduce you, did she?"

I snorted. "Of course she did, as if she thought I would accept."

"And you wouldn't?" Elaine was looking at me funny.

"I'd rather go bungee-jumping off a bridge with the bungee cord attached to my privates."

She smiled. "GOOD answer."

"Come on...we've still got 'the Joker' to detain." As we climbed out of the bunker, the radio started going off. "Hey, relax, stop screaming in my ear! Say that again, more slowly?"

"We got trouble! Joseph Seed is calling you out. Says that he wants the 'fallen angel' to meet him at his compound!"

"Check in with everyone involved, do a head count. Find out if anyone's gone missing." I changed frequencies as Elaine stood by, looking as worried as I felt. "Well, well, Joseph Seed. I felt my ears burning. So, I hear you want a face-to-face."

"The Reaping is at an end. It has been foreseen that you and I will meet before the Collapse, and that end is coming soon. I will be at my compound. Find me and find out what prophecy has been made for you."

"Spoken like a true psychopath. Don't worry, Joseph, I'm coming for you. You better start praying that I DON'T get there." I turned to Elaine. "Get everybody ready for an assault on the compound...whatever peggies are left are going to go kamikaze when I take Joseph down."

"You got it."

* * *

I took my time getting there, making sure that all the people working with us were accounted for, and that I was properly equipped for my meeting. I kept my mask on, putting up a front to make myself look as fearsome as possible. By the time I showed up at Joseph Seed's compound in the helicopter, I probably looked like a cross between the Grim Reaper and Rambo.

So, mission accomplished.

I walked towards the church in the middle of the compound, seeing Joseph Seed standing outside, six peggies at his sides. Three on the left, three on the right. Probably thinking that, because there's seven of them, that this situation was reaching its conclusion. It was, just not the way he was thinking. As I approached, Elaine and the other's from Fall's End were staying back, but close enough to listen in.

"What's the matter, Joseph? Lost your technicolor dreamcoat?" I asked as I approached.

Joseph shook his head. "You dare to mock God with your blasphemy. Has your evil no limits?"

"I'm not mocking God. YOU are. I'm just mocking YOU." I stopped, then turned to the paggies at his sides. "There's an apocryphal piece of info that the antichrist will come from Rome. Isn't that your hometown, Seed? Rome, Georgia?"

"Enough…!" Hoseph said tiredly. "You've come to the end, whoever or whatever you are. The Collapse is here." I noticed one of the peggies looking up at the clock, holding something in his hand. AH. THERE'S the trigger. So that one is the one who's going to set off the nukes. Good to know.

"Oh, yeah...your Collapse certainly is. But before the end of everything as we know it, don't you think it's time for people to know the truth? Scripture says that the truth will set you free, doesn't it? So let's start with you. Joe Seed. Started hearing a 'voice' in your head as a kid, kept listening to it all the way into adulthood. Probably thought it was from God, even when you got into that car accident. Wife killed in the crash, daughter on life support...but you fixed that, didn't you? Pinched the tube providing oxygen to her shut. Killed your own daughter, huh?"

"I pledged to serve God, no matter what!" Joseph said firmly.

"Yeah, well, God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, but YOU must be SPECIAL, considering you think God told you that murdering an innocent baby on life support was somehow acceptable. Then you got your brothers together and decided that taking away free will was next on God's To-Do-List for you? Brainwashing people? Murdering them? Coming into their homes and tearing them apart? Want to show me where in the Bible where Jesus gave those commands, because I must've missed those classes in Sunday School…"

"I will be proven right...for the end has come at last. Hallelujiah." I caught sight of the peggie pressing the button on the detonator, then pressing it again, then again, then holding down the button.

"Uhm….I think your Doomsday Clock might be running a few seconds fast, because there ain't nothin' happenin'. Try again, maybe God wasn't listening to you. Try shouting."

"HALLELUJIAH!" he yelled out, holding his hands up. Now the peggie with the detonator was visibly trying to get it to work.

"Wow, Joseph...looks like Somebody doesn't have your back anymore, if He ever did." Joseph began looking around, then looked at the peggie with the detonator. "If you're waiting for your nukes to go off, Joseph, I'm afraid they're a little outside warranty. I found your little presents and I defused them, then buried them under tons of steel and concrete. The Apocalypse isn't coming today, Joseph."

When he looked at me, his eyes were filled with a crazy kind of rage. "KILL HIM!" he shrieked, all calm composure gone. The peggies at his side hesitated at the sight of him, then dropped where they stood as Jesse, Grace and I removed them from the equation. Joseph stopped as he looked at his fallen, then back at me. "YOU…!"

"What's the matter, Joseph? Your 'voice' doesn't have an answer for me, except 'kill'? Come on, bucko. I'm right here. No guns, no knives, no tricks." I drop my pack and lower my guns. "Come on, Joseph. Want me to tattoo 'Wrath' on your ass…?"

He walked towards me carefully, his eyes flitting to the grenade hanging from by tactical vest. He smiled, then grabbed the grenade and pulled the pin, then wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into a hug. "We shall be with God NOW…!" he said with an almost gleeful tone in his voice.

I shrugged, not even bothering to pull myself free, drawing out the syringe I'd prepared earlier, then injecting the contents into his neck. "It's a dud. I disarmed it earlier. Geez, don't you just HATE it when someone promises you something and then screws you over?"

Joseph glared at me until he went limp, the dummy grenade dropping to the ground. I turned to the others. "He'd done. It's over for Hope County. The peggies are broken. There may be some left, hiding in bunkers, waiting for the end to come. When they run out of Bliss, the end'll come pretty quick."

"What about the Bliss that's already made, and the flowers?" Mary May asked.

"I've got a few friends working on that. For now, take every container of refined Bliss somewhere and dump the contaiiners into what's left of the silos, then torch them. But if I were you….I'd step back a few feet before doing that." I picked up Joseph and slung him over my shoulder.

"What are you going to do with him?" Nick asked.

"You want to have nightmares for a decade? Don't ask. Come on, Elaine. We got things to do."

* * *

"And here they are…" I put Joseph into the "Joker" cell and locked the door, then went to the other cells and unstrapped and removed the IV drips, one by one, then moving the medical equipment far away from their grasp. "Better be careful. When they wake up, they may be a bit….cranky."

Elaine smiled. "Good."

We took a seat on the sofa facing the cells and I turned on the MP3 player. "Ballroom Blitz" started playing on the Bluetooth speakers kinda loud, and the Seeds began to stir, slowly coming around. By the time the song had ended and the next song, "Atom Bomb" by the Strike started playing, they were fully awake. "Elaine….welcome the new inmates to 'Arkham Asylum'."

Elaine looked at them. "You are all in so much deep shit, it's not even funny."

"Thank you, Elaine. And now, on to Orientation. All four of you are in a forgotten bunker deep in the forest. The previous owner almost got turned into one of you, before John Seed drowned him while trying to 'baptize' him. He took his secret to the grave, but I found it. Lucky me. Now, Joseph, you have been a NAUGHTY cult leader. You didn't tell the others about the nukes underneath their feet. BAD Nutcase, NO donut."

I turn on the projector, showing the full photos, and close-ups, of the nukes and their serial numbers. "His plan was to jump-start the end of the world, but by the time he'd done that, you'd all be reduced to sub-atomic particles and you wouldn't be in any position to say 'boo'." John, Jacob and Faith were now all looking at Joseph in disbelief. "And believe me, that's not all the little tidbits that he's been leaving out of his sermons. Faith here was being groomed to give Joseph a son, because, like his real boss, he wanted to try and be like God every way he could. Problem is, the previous Faiths either couldn't conceive...or only provided him with daughters." John and Jacob looked at each other, then at Faith. Joseph was either praying to his Voice to get him out of this, or avoiding their gazes. "Well, Faith, looks like you can tell him you're not really preggers after all. I'm sure he won't mind…"

Joseph's head snapped up as he turned to look at Faith, who was doing her best to try to look innocent. From the look of anger on Joseph's face, he wasn't buying it.

"But hey, I've been keeping a few secrets, too. Here, let's check what's on the local stations." I turned off the MP3 player, turning on the radio:

"...ambassadors recalled from their respective embassies…"

"...the President has issued recalls to the armed forces, and vaious countries have opened new diplomatic avenues…"

"...several influential military officers close to the President have been arrested and charged with sedition…"

"...agricultural subsidies have grown, promising new growth measures and working with underdeveloped countries…"

I turned off the radio as the four of them looked at the radio in horror. "I found all the people you Blissed into working with you to make things worse in the world and raise military tensions. Turns out the CIA is good for something after all. Well, Joseph, maybe the world isn't perfect. Maybe the world is in bade shape. And maybe, sometime in the future, the REAL End Of Days will show up and Jesus will return in glory. But UNTIL that happens, Seed Family...we'll get along just FINE wthout you."

"Wait...you can't do this to us!" John said quickly. "I'm a lawyer, remember? We have RIGHTS!"

"Oh, I think we'll just leave the courrts out of this one."

"What are you going to do?" Jacob growled.

"Oh, SO many ideas. Elaine?"

* * *

ELAINE

"WELL…" I began, thoroughly enjoying myself, "my first thought was to just invite the survivors of what you've done down here, give them a gun and a choice on who they want to shoot the most. I figure that, when all is shot and done, there's a really strong chance that none of you would come out of this looking like anything except ground round." I started musing as I slowly paced outside the cells, well out of arms' reach. Rick just stood by. I reminded myself to thank him for this opportunity later….and vigorously. "The second Idea I had was to wait until your antidotes wore off, then dump a barrel of Bliss down the steps until it broke open, give you a taste of your own poison…" I turned to look at Faith. "Only problem is, some, if not all, would probably enjoy the experience if you didn't overdose...even though you would definitely not enjoy the withdrawal symptoms. I discarded that idea, but I don't like the idea of you monsters enjoying yourself in any way."

I stopped and looked at Joseph. "Now that the rest of the family has heard about your REAL plans, I don't imagine you'd like the idea of us locking you all down here, but opening your cells. I'm sure you'd have a lot to 'discuss' with each other...but, knowing you sick fucks, you'd probably spend your last hours running out of air raping Faith Seed to death. Which goes back to the idea of any of you enjoying yourselves, which I cannot abide. You took my SISTER from me…! I even thought about having you tranqued again, let you slowly suffocate and wake up in Hell."

I looked at them, hating them, LOATHING them for everything that they've done. But at the same time, I pitied them. "So, I've decided what I want to do. You seem to be doing a lot to try and emulate God in some abortive attempt to actually BECOME him. Well, now's your chance. Welcome to the Tomb. Normally, I'd give you three days to escape, but seeing as how it'll be sealed off from the rest of the world, I don't think you'll have enough air for that." I looked at them all. "I know you had hard lives, trials and problems. So have a lot of people. But, unlike you, Seeds, they didn't choose to cope and rise above such treatment by becoming worse than the people that mistreated them. So, I understand. You've had terrible lives." I walked to the ladder leading upwards. "Bet you're glad they're OVER now…" I said, then turned to go up the ladder.

Rick sighed. "Well, you heard the lady. I'll leave the radio on, it seems like you all could use a little music." He put on, "Only You" by the Platters, looking at Jacob. "There. That should tide you all over for a while." By this time, Jacob was openly threatening him, John and Faith were BEGGING to be let out, and Joseph was just kneeling on the floor. practically catatonic.

Rick stopped, then walked in front of Joseph's cell. "Remember when you said, 'No one is coming to save you'? Right back at you." He walked to Jacob's cell. "Remember when you said, 'There's no where you can run'? You were wrong. You're going to die in that cell because I ran AT you." He walked over to Faith's cell. "What was that you told me? 'No more distractions, no more pity'? Thanks for the ADVICE." Finally, he stopped in front of John's cell as John glared back at him. "And I only got one word for you...NO."

Then Rick came up the ladder after me.

"You had to get the last word in, didn't you?" I asked as he closed the bunker hatch.

"After listening to those maniacs ever since I got here, I felt the need to make sure they were hearing ME." He stopped and listened. "Ah...sweet, sweet silence. Let Eli know we're ready for him."

* * *

"What are you thinking?" I asked Rick as he and Eli poured the concrete over the hatch leading down into the bunker.

Rick rubbed his chin. "I was thinking about a memorial garden, or perhaps a monument. Something the people can look to and remember the day they took back their homes from the cult."

I nodded. "What do you want to do now?"

"Stay. Help rebuild. I kinda like this place, now that the peggie population has dropped considerably. Besides...I was hoping we could make a home here."

"'We'? Does this mean you're sticking around?"

"Sure." Rick grinned. "Got dibs on John Seed's ranch, plenty of space to raise livestock, crops...kids…" He looked over at the animals resting nearby. "...pets."

I felt extremely warm. "...I think I can work with that."

"Good. I may need to wrap up a few loose ends, though, and Huntley has put me in charge of making sure nobody misuses the flowers here any more than they originally were. They're too dangerous, and we're going to have to start phasing them out as the environment metabolizes the Bliss, hopefully breaking it down. Going to have the EPA coming in, but I'll make sure nothing happens to our home."

"Good." I looked at the space under where the concrete was hardening, "It's hard to believe that someone would work so hard to destoy the world. What was he thinking, that we'd just nuke the planet and, miraculously, everything would just come back from being horribly radioactive, that the world would just bloom into all kinds of colors and become some sort of...rainbow-colored paradise?!"

Rick looked at me. "Did you sample some of Faith's stock when I wasn't looking? That is the most screwed-up thing I've ever heard, and I've listened to people from the government." He shook his head. "Whatever crazy idea made you come up with that, find the part of your brain storing it, and pour bleach on that part until the idea goes away."

"It does kinda sound bizarre, doesn't it?"

"Bizarre? The whole idea of whatever kind of world Joseph Seed and his 'kin' were trying to make happen, that's crazier than a soup sandwich. Come on, Lainey. I could sleep for a week."

* * *

NANCY

I've been here ever since they tried to take the Father, down in my bunker. I've listened to the radio, the sounds and words becoming more and more terrifying. The Seed Family, gone? The Collapse didn't happen? The Project, OVER?

I can't understand it...how did things go so wrong?

I looked up as I heard a sound. I've been cowering down here ever since the Marshal and the Sheriff failed to bring down the Father, and I made sure that I did my part. It would've taken a MONTH for the government to realize anything was off, and by then, it would've been too late.

As I thought about what needed to be done, to avenge the Father, the lights went out as the generator died. I thought I had plenty of gas...and that's when I heard the voice of the Devil himself...right next to my right ear...

* * *

RICK

Hello, Loose End.

"WELL, NOW...ISN"T IT COZY IN HERE...JUST THE TWO OF USSSS..."

.

.

.

THE END


End file.
